


The Angel of Death

by Emma



Category: Torchwood
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-16
Updated: 2013-01-16
Packaged: 2017-11-25 18:39:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 29,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/641818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emma/pseuds/Emma
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Far in the future, Jack meets someone he never expected to see again</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

     The Ylnagii transport drifted down to rest on the exposed bottom of Terra Tertiaria’s ocean. Eight flexible legs slammed into the mud, keeping the wedge-shaped body aloft. A few minutes later, a landing tube extended from its underside to rest on what had once been the shore. It resembled nothing so much as a spider preparing to spin its web, but to the people waiting on the cliffs above the beach it was a sign of salvation, or at least, hope. They moaned as the airlock on the tube opened and a squadron of black-winged figures fanned out across the sand.

     In the airlock staging area, Jack sealed the cuffs on his biohazard suit and shouldered his pack. The scouts’ reports had listed a number of infectious diseases left behind by the 456. The microfilters implanted in his nasal passages would scrub the air going into his lungs so he could talk to patients face to face, and the invisible film of sterile latex covering every exposed skin surface would let them delude themselves into thinking the situation was under control. They would need the illusion.

     He checked the chrono over the door. Another hour at least before the Angels gave the all clear. He found an empty spot and made himself comfortable. His more experienced colleagues in the Emergency Medical Response Team were doing the same thing. The novices were fairly vibrating out of their boots with either excitement or apprehension. In this sort of situation, too much of either one was a liability. Still, they were travelling with a very experienced unit; he was sure the sergeant major would take steps.

     “Doctor Harper?” The young woman in the pilot flight suit held on to the nograv bar as if afraid that the ship would go suddenly into free-fall. “The Navigator's compliments and could you please attend him in the control room?”

     Jack hid his surprise with the ease of long practice. The Navigator was the senior Ylnagii in an EMR ship. It seldom communicated directly with any of the medical teams staff, preferring to send his orders through the sergeant major. In fact, he could not remember a single instance of any Ylnagii speaking directly to a human other than the flight crew.

     He jumped to his feet. “Lead on.”

     She led him down the corridor to one of the air shafts. “Have you ridden the air before, doctor?”

     “I've been known to, yes.” He grinned at her. It didn't seem pertinent to tell her he held the galactic patent on the technology. “Shall we?”

     They jumped in. The pressurized air caught them and pushed them up. Jack allowed himself the pleasure of feeling weightless. He held his arms tightly at his side, making himself as streamlined as he could, letting the air blast him upwards. The young pilot kept up with him easily, which was no wonder, considering he outmassed her by at least thirty kilos.

     After a while, he let her take the lead. He knew where the control room was; the first thing he had done after signing up was to get his hands on a copy of the ship's plan and memorize it. It had cost him a small fortune, but he had stopped barging into things without planning ahead a few centuries ago.

     The pilot tapped his shoulder and pointed at a open doorway up ahead. He nodded , extending his arms slightly to break his momentum. He watched as the pilot overshot the mark slightly, then turned to grab a handhold and launch herself feet first into the corridor below, twisting to land on her feet. He copied her movements exactly and earned himself an approving nod.

     “This way, doctor.”

     He followed her down another corridor. This one ended on a metal door with a genetic signature lock. She pressed her palm against the plate and a few seconds later the door slid back into its slot. She motioned him in, then followed.

     The control room was a circular bubble protruding slightly out of the narrow end of the ship, and protected by a heavy semicircular plate that could be lowered to cover it completely. It was the resemblance to a lidded eye that had earned the ships their nickname: Cyclops. Inside, several padded chairs fitted with reflexor controls surrounded a large null-grav environment. The Navigator crouched in the middle of it, its long legs folded under the swollen body, its eye stalks swivelling this way and that.

     Two of the stalks twisted gently to look at him. The examination lasted less than a minute but Jack found himself weighed, measured, and slotted into some sort of taxonomic table he could not comprehend.

     “Captain Harkness.” The voice was a gravelly purr precisely modulated to soothe human nerves. “I am Navigator Ll'nau.”

     This time Jack could not prevent the twitching of his shoulders. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the pilot stumble as she made her way along the perimeter catwalk to one of the chairs. Ylnagii did not volunteer their names to humans, claiming cultural taboo. And then the other thing sunk in.

     The Navigator had called him Captain Harkness.

     “Yes,” Navigator Ll'nau said, as if he had read Jack's mind. “Captain Jack Harkness. If we are going to work together, we must be transparent to each other.”

     “Captain Jack Harkness was a long time ago and, truth be told, didn't have much going for him. I doubt if he could be of use to you.” He hitched the backpack into a more comfortable position. “May I return to my team, Navigator?”

     The sigh coming from the voice box was nearly human. “I'm sorry, Captain. I most sincerely wish I could let you. I am about to... what is the human expression... break your heart, Captain. And the worst thing, I would do it again if I had to.”

     In spite of the warmth of the room, Jack felt a shiver run up his spine. “There's nothing left to break, Navigator.”

     “There's always something left to break, Captain. For humans and Ylnagii both.” Ll'nau shifted, making a space on the floor next to him. “Come sit, please.”

     For a wild moment, Jack considered running. Then the odd fatalistic streak he could never quite keep in check made him unharness his pack and step down into the null-grav environment. Ll'nau watched him carefully.

     “That's how I knew it was you, you know. You move like a soldier, not a medic.”  
The Navigator unfolded one of its legs and pressed the forepad against a plate set flush with the floor. Jack could feel the sudden deadening of sound that indicated a privacy shield. “Tell me, Captain, what do you know about the Angels?”

     “Bioengineered soldiers. High degree of cybernetic modeling. There have been a number of determined attempts by most of the robotics companies in the Galactic Federation to infiltrate your creches. None succeeded.”

     “Succinctly put, Captain,” Ll'nau said approvingly. “However, the truth is rather different. The technology is both older and simpler, and therefore more prone to misuse and error. That is why we keep it a secret.”

     Ll'nau cocked a couple of eye stalks in Jack's direction as if waiting for something. Jack stared back silently. After a few seconds, Ll'nau continued. “In our cultural infancy, my people were terrified of death. We developed a method of transferring our consciousness into another body. It had severe limitations, and more failures than successes, but it was used. We abandoned the practice once we reached proper maturity, of course. But then, the 456 came to our world. Afterwards, all we had left was the duty of revenge.”

     “And you found a new use for your technology?”

     Ll'nau nodded in assent. “Creating bodies posed no great difficulties. We tried transferring our own consciousness, but it didn't work properly. A living being fights being... evicted, I suppose it's the word. Then, in a leap of faith some of my people consider proof of divine inspiration, one of our scientists developed a variation of the death ritual. If we could capture someone's consciousness at the moment of death, the transfer was almost always successful.”

     Jack clenched his hands on his lap to keep from doing something he would regret later. Or maybe that he wouldn't. “So you turned mind snatcher?”

     Ll'nau nodded. “As you say. A few hundred years later, quite by accident, we discovered that the consciousness of human adults killed by the 456 were particularly suited for transfer. They were filled with rage and hatred, all aimed at their killers.” Ll'nau held out its forepad in a startlingly human gesture of regret. “So we used them. We manipulated the human genome until we could produce nearly indestructible soldiers, then we injected the human consciousnesses we harvested into them.”

     “Don't say it, please.” Jack hunched over, wrapping his arms around his knees. “Don't.”

     “I'm sorry, Captain. We were right behind the 456. We could have helped, but the Navigator in charge of that ship chose to stand by and allow the 456 to achieve their goals. He was more interested in creating an army than in saving human lives.” Ll'nau eye stalks dropped in shame. “I could tell you that his clan and family have been erased from our history and that no child ever born to the Ylnagii will ever bear his name. But that cannot make up for your losses.”

     “Where is he? Where is Ianto?”

     Ll'nau's posture became even more low and submissive. “He's... nowhere. There is an Angel whose body carries Ianto Jones's consciousness. But you see, Captain, in order to make the perfect soldier, one needs to make sure emotion is completely subdued. Memories of their old lives are erased. Their new lives are utterly centered around the need to defeat the 456.”

     Jack bit his tongue to keep from screaming. “Then why are you telling me this?”

     “We have always known we couldn't defeat the 456 with brute force. We studied them, hoping to find a chink in their defenses. Some small opening one or two people could pass through where an army would fail. And when we did, we built the perfect weapon. Programmed to destroy them once and for all. The Angel of Death.”

     “So what do you need me for?” Jack snarled.

     “Because there is a certain sort of experience that comes from living long and dangerously, and he doesn't have it. Everything he knows, everything he's trained for, is useless if he can't get close enough. We may have built the perfect weapon, but you're the only one who can wield it.”


	2. Chapter 2

  
      Jack stared at the screen. The Angel moved through the tai-chi sequence over and over again with perfect balance and control. Each time he moved a little faster, until at the end he was moving so fast his hands were a blur. It was like watching a performance by a great dancer – body sleek rather than muscular, streamlined rather than bulky – except that the threat of violence was always subtly present in every movement.   
  
      He tapped a few keys, and the observo zoomed in. As the face came into focus, his lungs seized and for a moment he forgot how to breathe. It was Ianto. Perhaps not exactly as he remembered; after nine hundred years details were lost or altered by a memory that could not hold everything, no matter how hard it tried. Perhaps he only imagined the resemblance because he was still so desperate.   
  
      Jack touched his fingers to the screen and traced the Angel’s features. The face was a little sharper along the plane of the cheeks, the eyebrows a bit higher, and the mouth a tad thinner. The eyes were the same startling shade of blue, but they had none of the lurking merriment that he remembered in Ianto's eyes. The hair was longer than Ianto had worn it, but much shorter than most Angels wore it, and held in a ponytail at the nape. A vivid memory of burying his face in the curve of that neck as he convulsed in sweet release surged upwards, and he squeezed his eyes shut to stop the tears.  
  
      “Why do you make them look…?” He trailed off helplessly.  
  
      “It seems to help if they stare at a familiar face in the mirror,” the Navigator said. “We retain as much of their physical appearances and attributes as possible.”  
  
      Jack turned off the monitor and watched as the giant screen became a soothing lake of simulated fire with great ribbons of brightly-colored gas swimming through it. After a while, he let his head drop back against the edge of the Navigator's nesting cushion.  
  
      I'm leading him to his death again,” he muttered. “Killing Ianto one more damn time.”  
  
      Ll'nau's eye stalks bent to the ground. “That is a real possibility, yes. But you're also the only chance he has for survival. Perhaps luck will be with you.”  
  
      Jack laughed bitterly. “That, Navigator, is the one thing I've never had. Does he know it's a suicide mission?”  
  
      “He does. Even if we hadn't told him, he's the best we've ever trained. Subterfuge would be useless.”  
  
      “All right. What's the plan?”  
  
      Ll'nau's eye stalks popped up. “You are accepting our proposal?”  
  
      “You knew I would. I've been chasing the 456 for centuries.” Jack reached into his backpack, extracted his wrist strap, and fastened around his wrist. “Like I said, what's the plan?”  
   
      “No plan as such. The next human habitat in the current 456 vector is Freeman's Dream.” At Jack's grimace, the Navigator let loose the high pitched _whirr_ that was Ylnagii laughter. “Yes, well. Usually, there would be nothing there to interest them. Unfortunately the Free Men got themselves into trouble with their Klickshee bankers and had to sell off part of their holdings to an religious émigré group from Earth. I believe they call themselves Beachy Amish?”  
  
      “Nice folk. Large families. Pacifists. Perfect targets for the 456.”  
  
      The Navigator crouched down until his eye stalks were level with Jack's head. “We were afraid of that. These people could be in a great deal of danger. The Free Men are not above doing some business with the 456.”  
  
      “So we have the tethered goats.” Jack activated the transmitter in his wrist strap. “Do we know who’s running the Free Men these days?”  
  
      Ll’nau _whirred_ again. “As usual, their politics are… highly convoluted. The last communiqué from their Shareholders reported that the Prairie Falcon band leader had received the most votes at their most recent annual meeting. As to what that means…” A forepad shot up and waggled in imitation of the human so-so motion.  
  
      “Not a thing,” Jack said wearily. “Senior Shareholder is all about showing off. The important thing is who controls Security Enforcement.”  
  
      “That would be Lucken Espinosa.”  
  
      Jack laughed. “You mean Arabella Espinosa. Lucken hasn’t had an independent thought in his life. He went from his father’s control to his wife’s.”   
  
      He flipped open the security lid and tapped a quick sequence on his wrist strap. Ll’nau kept trying to examine the device while trying to appear absolutely uninterested. Finally, he couldn’t resist tilting his eye stalks directly at Jack’s wrist.  
  
      “We have heard a great deal about your control unit. It is unusual technology.”  
  
      “That it is, for this time and place.”  
  
      Eye and eye stalk met in understanding, then Ll'nau pulled himself back to a more neutral stance.   
  
      “What are you doing?”  
  
      “The only way to deal with the Free Men is from a position of what they see as strength. Doctor John Harper would not rate any respect in their eyes. Jack Harkness does.”  
  
      “Ah. And nobody would think twice about Captain Harkness’s new companion, since he has a penchant for travelling with beautiful young people.”  
  
      “Having a certain kind of reputation is useful from time to time.” Jack snapped the wrist strap's cover down. “The _Toshiko_ will be here in three hours.”  
  
      Ll'nau shifted around slightly until he was staring at the monitor. “Do you know what that is, Captain?”  
  
      “The Rivenhell nebula.”  
  
      “So very few people know about it... and so few of us still alive to remember it. When I was a child, I would lay in the inner courtyard of my grandfather's compound and stare up at it for hours. Ir could be seen even in daylight. When we knew our pursuit of the 456 would take us away from home for centuries, we decorated our inner spaces with images of what we loved the most.” One single eye stalk turned to look at Jack. “May I ask an impertinent question?”  
  
      For the first time in what seemed like hours, Jack smiled. “Those are the one that will get you the most interesting answers.”  
  
       Do you always name your designs after lost companions?” The long silence that followed the question seemed to make the Navigator uncomfortable, and he plunged on. “You do not need to answer, of course, but it is hard to miss if one knows anything about you. Your personal warship is, of course, the _Toshiko_. The multispecies refugee habitat at the Twelve Worlds nexus is the _Gwen and Rhys_. The mobile hospitals for use by emergency medical personnel in colony worlds are called _Owens_ , and the diagnostic consoles they carry are _Marthas_. The solar wind racer in which you won the Eta Draconis challenge was the _Rose_. And yet...”  
  
      “You want to know why I never named anything the _Ianto_.”  
  
      The eye stalk swiveled away. “If I am threading on private ground, Captain, I do beg your pardon.”  
  
      “You are.” Jack sighed. “I'm not ready to release him yet, I suppose.”  
  
      The eye stalk swiveled back. “Are you saying you have come to terms with your other relationships but not with that one?”  
  
      “That's as good a way to say it as any.” Jack pushed himself up. “We better get moving. I want to be on my way tonight.”  
  
      Ll'nau raised itself up to its full size. In that position it reminded Jack of an old Earth illustration of a centaur, if horses were to have six legs and a crown of tentacles. “Let us go, then, and introduce you to Ianto.”  
  
      Jack barely managed to bring himself under control. “What did you say?”  
  
      “Surely, Captain, it's occurred to you that a being's name is its basis for self-recognition.” Ll'nau sounded uncharacteristically defensive. “The first thing we ask a newborn Angel is what it wishes to be called. And they always choose their own name.”


	3. Chapter 3

     By the time they reached the Angels' barracks on the starboard side of the transport, Jack was shivering. So many memories crowded his mind – _careful, sir, that's harassment; lots of things you can do with a stopwatch; are you asking me out on a date?; he cheats, he always cheats; I know you get lonely; A thousand years' time? You won't remember me_ – that he could feel himself slipping into shellshock. His own counter-punctual litany – _oh God, Ianto, how could you say that to me? I promised, I promised you would never be a blip in time, not to me, I’m sorry I never told you I loved you, did you know I loved you?, I did love you_! – simply drove him further and further down, until he was almost back inside the dark, airless bubble he had lived in for a century after leaving Cardiff.  
  
      Mercifully, Ll'nau kept a light patter going, pointing out areas of interest, for all the Universe like a tour guide on a luxury yacht. It was obvious he didn't expect an answer from him, or even his attention. Jack felt a rush of affection for the discreet old Ylnagii.   
    
      “Stop for a moment,” he whispered through dry lips. “Please.”  
  
      Ll’nau placed a forepad on Jack’s shoulder. “Take as much time as you need, Captain Harkness.”  
  
      “There's not enough time in the Universe for that,” Jack retorted. “Just give me a few minutes.”  
  
      He closed his eyes. Drawing on every technique he had learned during his Time Agency training, he centered himself in the present. If he was to have a chance to save Ianto this time around, he couldn't afford to lose control of his emotions. The only way to do that was to keep an iron grip on reality at all times, and reality was that the man on the other side of that bulkhead did not remember being Ianto Jones. His memory had been wiped and his life redirected. All he could do for _this_ Ianto was to make sure he survived.  
  
      Whatever showed in his eyes when he opened them seemed to reassure Ll'nau. He started towards the door, but Jack held him back.  
  
      “One question. What will happen to Ianto if we manage to get out alive?”  
  
      “Whatever he wishes that we can grant, he will have,” Ll'nau said. “You have my word on it.”  
  
      Jack stepped back. Ll'nau pressed its forepad to the lock and the door slid open directly into the space they had been watching earlier. Jack looked around. The place was a cross between a meditation garden and a dojo. The Angel – Ianto! He must get used to thinking of him as Ianto – was sitting in full lotus on the wide ledge that bounded the koi pond.  
  
      _Ianto, sitting on Jack's narrow bed underneath the office, trying to bring his heel to his groin, grousing, while Jack laughed until tears ran down his cheeks._  
  
      He managed to remain impassive while his stomach churned. He followed Ll'nau as the Navigator crossed the practice floor. The Angel saw them coming. He rose to his feet in a single fluid movement and waited in perfect stillness, arms hanging loosely at his side.  
  
      “Ianto,” Ll'nau motioned towards Jack, “this is Captain Jack Harkness. He has agreed to help you in your mission.”  
  
      “From what I've read about the Captain, it's more like he has agreed to let me help him.”  
  
      _Ianto, leaning against the door jamb, hands in his pockets, jacket off, sleeves rolled up. “It's a warm day, sir. Let me help you get a little... warmer.”_  
  
      Jack extended his hand. “Not this time, Ianto. My job is to get you in and out of Freeman's Dream. The rest is up to you.”  
  
      His hand was caught in a solid grip. “Thank you, then.”  
  
      _Ianto's hands, wandering over his body, stroking, petting, clutching, grasping... Ianto's hands, urging him higher and higher..._  
  
      Releasing Ianto's hand, Jack turned to Ll'nau. “We'll need to provide Ianto with an identity that will stand up to Security Enforcement. They may be paranoid, but they're also very competent.”  
  
      “We've taken care of that, but you'll need to look it over and see if we've missed something. You will also need to select a wardrobe for him. I'm afraid,” he looked down at his own wedge-shaped, six-legged body and _whirred_ softly, “we're not very good judges of human fashions.”  
  
      Jack grinned at him. “I suppose not. Ianto, you'll need to choose your own clothes from whatever I pick. It works better if you're comfortable in your own skin.”  
  
      “I don't know if I'll be very good at this sort of thing,” Ianto said. “My training didn't include undercover work.”  
  
      Jack waved a hand dismissively. “We'll work on that. The whole secret of running a good con is showing the marks what they expect to see.”  
  
      Ianto cocked his head. “And what will they expect when they see us together?”  
  
      I _anto, impeccable in the black three-piece suit and red shirt, holding out the RAF coat. “Come on, Captain. London has certain expectations of us.”_  
  
      “They will expect to see Jack Harkness and his latest conquest.” Ianto's raised eyebrow nearly drove him to his knees, but he kept the smile firmly in place. “Don't worry. Jack's known to like feisty types.”  
      
      “That's just as well. I don't think I could play a doormat.” Ianto studied Jack as if trying to find the answer to an unspoken question. “Tell me, Captain, is Jack Harkness a role or is he real?”  
  
      “First rule of the con game, Ianto. The role is always real. If you don't believe it, the marks won't believe it either.”  
  
      “Oh. Does that mean that we will have to become lovers?”  
  
      Jack's heart thumped hard in his chest. “Only in public. Don't worry.” He forced himself to give Ianto his sexiest grin. “Jack's notorious for his flirting but he's actually quite private about his sex life.”  
  
      “That is true,” Ll'nau interjected. “For a man with a reputation for... well, I believe the expression is _sleeping with anything with a set of coordinates_ , very few actual... ah... participants... can be identified.” He set out towards the door. “Come on, gentlemen. Let's get started. You can set the ground rules later.”  
  
      They trooped after him, nearly running to keep up. Leaving behind the Angel quarters, they dropped into the main drive access tunnel. Jack let Ianto get ahead and watched him move. Where his Ianto had mastered his slight awkwardness with practice and a sort of obsessive perfectionism, this Ianto was all grace and honed skill. Maybe he could think of it a reverse regeneration: where the Doctor's appearance changed but his memories and basic principles remained the same, Ianto's appearance stayed the same but everything else changed.   
  
      After thinking about it for a while, he came to the conclusion that it didn't help.  
  
      Ll'nau led them through another door and into a room resembling the costume department of a large theatre. Rack after rack of clothes were bolted to the metal plate floor. They seemed to fit every race in the galaxy, including some Jack would have sworn didn't wear any clothes. Ll'nau made his way through the racks to an extensive section in the back.  
  
      “Human clothes. We have samples from every group we have ever come across.” He nodded to a young Ylnagii crouched over a terminal. “This is Tt'laa. It will assist you. I must return to the control room. Captain, Ianto, we might not meet again. I wish you both good luck.” He touched his forepads to their wrists. “My blessings on you, if they be worth anything.”  
  
      “All blessings gratefully accepted,” Jack said. “And hopes for a future meeting.”  
  
      They watched him leave, then turned to the young Ylnagii. “Tt'laa, isn't it? Do you have any information about Ianto's identity?”  
  
      It nodded its eye stalks furiously as it pressed a few keys. “He is to pass as a native of the Lalande Habitats, specifically New Cardiff. It will account for his excellent physical condition and his slight Welsh accent.” There was a soft click and a memory chip popped out of the terminal. “Details are here.”  
  
      “Good.” Jack pocketed the chip. “We'll look it over when we're in the _Toshiko_. Now, Ianto...” he cast an expert eye over the racks. “Over here. These are the kinds of clothes the Lalande folks are wearing these days. Start choosing.”  
  
      Ianto's hand went unerringly to a long-sleeved red tunic with black trousers and vest. “This one.”  
  
      Jack's mouth dried. “Why that one?”  
  
      “Well,” Ianto said in a whimsical tone, “red is my colour.”


	4. Chapter 4

     “Did I do something wrong?”  
  
      Jack looked up from his reading to see Ianto in the doorway, dressed in a looser, softer version of his tai chi trousers and a plain black t-shirt neatly tucked in. He was barefoot, and his toes flexed against the coolness of the metal grating.   
  
      “You should wear shoes. The corridors are always cold.”  
  
      Ianto shrugged. “It’s not any worse than what we encounter during training. May I have an answer? I need to know what conversational taboos to avoid. Otherwise our cover story isn't going to be very believable, not with you withdrawing into Captain mode every time I trip a hidden wire.”  
  
      “You didn’t do anything wrong, Ianto.” Sighing, Jack closed the oversized book and set it aside. “What you said brought back memories of someone I cared for very much a long time ago. Come in. You might as well learn your way around the control room.”  
  
      Ianto padded in, looking around curiously. The _Toshiko_ ’s control room was designed as a semicircle with curving walls that fashioned a half dome high overhead. Thin ribs carved to resemble flowering vines supported the structure. In the center of the room, a waist-high column with a lotus-shaped capital supported the navigation control panels. To the left of the column, in an alcove tucked between two of the ribs, a Chula pilot's chair and a glass-fronted bookcase had been bolted to the deck.   
  
      “Unusual.” Ianto murmured. “You design as much for beauty as for utility.”  
  
      “I adapted the look of a ship I travelled in once. Just a bit less.... random.”  
  
      Ianto ran his hand over the edge of one of the navigation panels. “The briefing documents I received suggest that this ship carries Gallifreyan technology. The consensus is that it was stolen, although there are hints here and there of more interesting scenarios.”  
  
      Jack laughed. “That's a nice way to put it.”   
  
      He hesitated for a moment, then walked over to the column, motioning to the young man to join him. He ran his fingers around the petals of one of the lotus blossoms and then pressed gently. A thin plate slid away. The interior of the column was completely filled with what at first glance appeared to be an intricately carved piece of white jade.  
  
      Ianto knelt by the column, staring into the light as if hypnotized. “Is that...”  
  
      “A TARDIS coral. I found it and I've been caring for it since it was smaller than the palm of my hand. It is not yet quite ready, but it will be soon, I think.”   
  
      As they watched the coral extruded a delicate branch and curved it around a thicker one. They looked at each other and smiled. Jack pressed on the lotus petal again and the plate slid back into place.  
  
      “There is stolen technology in this ship, but that’s not it.” Grinning fiercely, he pointed at the alcove. “Can you think of a reason why a ship with navigation control panels should also have a Chula pilot’s chair in it?”  
  
      “Our records show that your first ship was a Chula warship. I assumed that it was for memory’s sake. You do seem to…”   
  
      Ianto broke off as the alcove began to glow. An elaborate tracery appeared on the curving walls. After a few seconds it detached itself from the metal and built and wrapped itself around the chair. Where the strands touched each other multi-colored lights sparkled and danced.  
  
      “An organic computer,” Ianto breathed the words reverently. “Where in the Universe did you find it?”  
  
      “In Cardiff. Most people assume the Torchwood Hub in Cardiff was built to take advantage of the central location, but that wasn’t it at all. The Hub was built over the remains of a ship that came through the Rift a millennia before there was even a Cardiff. When we found it, the computer was still functional. I convinced them that it was merely a highly advanced piece of technology and that it couldn’t be removed without harming it. They built the Hub around it and grafted twentieth century computer technology onto it. A few centuries ago I went back and grabbed it from right under their nose.”  
  
      “Wouldn’t they have noticed the sudden drop in computing power?”  
  
      “I left a Habitat Management System in its place. Besides, now that Torchwood is respectably public, the Hub is more a museum than anything else.”  
  
      Ianto burst into delighted laughter, and the sound of it made Jack's heart beat a little faster. That was one of his most precious memories: Ianto's full-throated enjoyment of the amusing and the ridiculous, even in the middle of a crisis. For several decades after Ianto's death, Jack had used that memory to find his own sense of humor. _Ianto would have laughed himself silly_ had become a kind of mantra that had led him out of despair a great many times.  
  
      And those memories had no place in the here and now. Taking a deep breath, he motioned towards the control column. “I've loaded some information on Freeman's Dream that might not have made it into your briefing.”  
  
      He watched as Ianto accessed the data. It was obvious that he was familiar with most of the Toshiko's controls. He made a mental note to review his security arrangements.  
  
      As Ianto pressed the last button in the sequence, a hologram screen appeared in midair. It was split into two sections. On the left-hand side there was a schematic of an asteroid field. On the upper right hand side, the screen showed a head and shoulders image of a woman. She had blonde hair piled up on top of her head in an intricately braided style, widely-spaced green eyes, and a rather soft smile. Below her, in the lower right hand side, the image was that of a man. He was also blond, rather handsome, and his face was tightly arrogant.  
  
      “Don't be deceived,” Jack told Ianto. “Of the two, the woman is the most dangerous.”  
  
      “That is not a commonly held belief.”  
  
      “I know. Arabella Espinosa is very clever. She works behind the scenes.”   
  
      Ianto eyed him speculatively. “Was she one of your... participants?”  
  
      “Good lord, no. I don't care for sex as competition and Arabella is the sort that always has to win.”  
  
      “So she made a play for you and you turned her down.” Ianto smiled at him. “That may be awkward.”  
  
      Jack shook his head. “I was very careful to let her save face, and she knows it.”  
  
      “And him?” Ianto pointed at the man. “Is he content to play second fiddle?”  
  
      “Lucken is bright enough to know he doesn't have the brains. Besides, they've worked out an efficient division of labor. He's the enforcement arm and she's management.”  
  
      “Ah.” Ianto enlarged the map to fill the screen. “This is Freeman's Dream? I didn't know there was a map.”  
  
      “There isn't. Officially, I mean. Tosh drew that one up.”  
  
      Ianto stared at him wide-eyed. “The ship?”  
  
      Jack laughed. “No. _Toshiko_ is the ship. Tosh is the computer. I had the ship for about two centuries before I went back for her.”  
  
      “That would be Toshiko Sato? The computer genius who adapted the time bubble technology to create protective force fields?”  
  
      “That's my Tosh.”   
  
      “I've read all her papers. She was considerably ahead of her time in cybernetics, wasn't she?” Ianto stepped closer to the pilot's chair. “What she could do with a computer was downright obscene.”  
  
      This time Jack was able to control himself. “That it was.”  
  
      He watched as Ianto reached out and touched one of the twinkling lights. The glowing net shivered and then a strand wrapped itself around Ianto's finger and flowed up to his wrist. Ianto looked back at Jack, giggling.  
  
      “It tickles!”  
  
      “She's getting to know you. She'll sample your DNA and create a biohologram of you inside herself. Once she does that, she'll spend a lot of time watching you. Learning your likes and dislikes, studying your reactions in all sorts of situations. Everything is incorporated into the biohol until she has as close to a simulacra of you as can be assembled.”  
  
      “It sounds a bit...” Ianto stopped, frowned. “I don't know that I like to be that well known.”  
  
      “Ianto, one sentience cannot know another fully no matter how much it studies it. The biohol is used to help in medical diagnosis or to track you if you go missing, that sort of thing.”  
  
      “Oh. Maybe I will study her and make my own construct.”  
  
      Jack laughed. “She'll like that. But not tonight. It's late and tomorrow we start working on our con.”  
  
      “That sounds interesting.” Ianto hesitated. “Can I ask where you sleep?”  
  
      Jack pointed to the right of the navigation column. A second alcove appeared, directly opposite to the pilot's chair. A small bunk had been fitted inside, with a locker beneath it. Ianto raised his eyebrows.  
   
      “That's probably the most uncomfortable bedroom I've ever seen.”  
  
      “I don't sleep much anyway. Good night, Ianto.”  
  
      “Good night, Jack.”  
  
      Jack watched him leave, then turned back towards the pilot's chair.  
  
      “Jack.” The voice was achingly familiar.  
  
      “Yes, Tosh?”  
  
      “My data banks have identified our passenger as Ianto Jones.” Tosh was clearly bewildered. “That's Ianto. Our Ianto.”  
  
      “I know, Tosh. I know.”


	5. Chapter 5

  
      Jack entered the control room to find Ianto sitting in the pilot’s chair cradled in Tosh’s neural net. The sight had become part of his morning routine. As soon as Jack headed for his morning shower, Ianto would pad in, barefoot and still in his exercise clothes, to spend time with the computer. Jack approved wholeheartedly; there might come a time when Ianto had to trust Tosh implicitly and that could only come with a great deal of personal interaction.   
  
      An added benefit was that it allowed Jack to put some distance between himself and Ianto. As nine-hundred-year-old memories surfaced, Jack found himself comparing this Ianto to _his_ Ianto, looking for moments when this Ianto said something, or smiled, or turned his head like _his_ Ianto. Each instance brought more pain and more self-recrimination, until even the smallest word or gesture seemed a punishment.   
  
      Trying to think of them as two separate people was becoming more and more difficult. There were differences, but they were more of degree rather than kind. It was as if the Ylnagii had enhanced and refined the qualities that had made Ianto _Ianto_. The final straw came when he found himself hiding in the engine room, shaking uncontrollably, because this Ianto had offered him a cup of coffee. So he had encouraged Ianto’s fascination with Tosh while he spent time alone rebuilding his outer shell.  
   
      The only place Jack did not avoid Ianto was in the workout room. The first day out, he had asked Ianto for a sparring session, no hold barred. At first Ianto seemed hesitant, but after twice ending up with Jack’s foot on his throat, one hair’s breadth away from crushing his larynx, he had thrown himself into it. An hour later, Jack had given him his unvarnished opinion: while Ianto was superbly trained in three human and two alien styles of hand-to-hand combat, he knew nothing about underhanded, down-and-dirty street fighting. Ianto had immediately asked for lessons. In spite of his need for distance, Jack agreed. He would use every weapon he had at hand to keep Ianto alive, even Ianto himself.  
  
      This time he would keep Ianto alive.  
  
      He scanned the control panels. Everything was normal. The artron readings were a little high, but that just meant the coral was growing again. At this rate he was going to have  to find another place for it.   
  
      “The perimeter register alarms sounded forty-five minutes ago,” Ianto said, coming up to stand next to him. “But Tosh said it was early yet.”  
  
      “She was right. Freeman's Dream claims a little more territory than Galactic treaties allow. As long as they don’t try to enforce it, most people ignore it.”  
  
      “They seem to think a great deal of themselves, though.” Ianto hesitated briefly, and then went on. “I also notice that they are somewhat…. inflexible… when it comes to sexual roles. Will that cause us a problem?”  
  
      Jack snorted. “Not that we’ll notice. We’re not likely to meet anyone outside of the Execs and some of the Techs. The vast majority of Freemen come out of their caves only when they absolutely have to.”  
  
      “Tosh has been explaining their system of government, if it can be called that. There was much that the Ylnagii don't know.”  
  
      “The Ylnagii are completely focused on defeating the 456. All the data they collect is in some way related to their goal. On the other hand, Tosh just likes facts and she's been collecting them for centuries.”  
  
      A soft ping from one of the panels signaled an incoming communication. Jack toggled the switch.   
  
      “Captain Harkness and _Toshiko_ ,” the voice had an odd cadence to it, as if each word was being processed individually. “Welcome back to Freeman's Dream. Your usual dock is available, Captain.”  
  
      “Thank you, NavTech. Connecting to your system.... now. Tosh, take over.” Jack toggled the switch off. “What to you know about the Tech?”  
  
      “According to the files, the Tech are primitive artificial intelligences used to operate and manage all the technology of Freeman's Dream, which is limited to their transportation and commercial needs. The Free Men pride themselves on their rejection of modern technological society. The AI's are their compromise.”  
  
      Jack studied Ianto for a few seconds. “How much of what you are learning are you reporting back to the Ylnagii?”  
  
      “Nothing.” Ianto answered promptly. “Tosh was concerned about it too, so I let her scan me very, very thoroughly, and gave her complete access to my private space, including the master passwords.” He gave a small sigh. “The Ylnagii would not do anything to irritate you at this point, Jack. Neither would I. I am very aware that you're my only hope of survival.”  
  
      “All right. Here's the truth, as best as Tosh and I have been able to find. The Tech are not AI. They are cyberconstructs.”  
  
      Ianto turned faintly green and pressed his fist to his mouth as if to keep from vomiting. “Cybermen?”  
  
      Jack rounded on him. “What do you know about Cybermen?”  
  
      Ianto took a step back. “Only what I've read in the Torchwood Archive files. A race of metal men who propagated themselves by taking humans and converting them. They attacked Earth several times during the twentieth and the twenty-first centuries but were pushed back to their own Universe by the Doctor. There have been no confirmed sightings of Cybermen since the late twenty-first century.” He touched Jack's arm hesitantly. “What is wrong?”  
  
      “You looked sick to your stomach.”  
  
      Ianto avoided Jack's eyes. “The idea of being trapped inside a metal casing, wired into a central brain that can override your own thoughts and instincts...” He shook his head. “It is one of the few things that terrify me.”  
  
      Jack tamped down his own reaction. It was not likely that Ianto actually remembered Cybermen, but obviously some emotional memory remained. “It's not a pleasant idea, no. The Freeman Techs are a totally different technology. It involves transplanting the brains and nervous systems of human beings into a non-mobile neural control center. From there they manipulate the Servos. That’s what the Techs call the machines that they control.”  
  
      “But they’re alive in there?” Ianto sounded nearly desperate. “Can they think and feel?”  
  
      Jack’s eyes locked with Ianto’s. “The Execs audit the Techs regularly, looking for deviations from the norm. If they find any, even the smallest one, the Techs are mind-wiped and rebooted. As far as the Free Men are concerned, considering the Techs sentient beings is a capital offence.”  
  
      Ianto nodded slowly. “Understood.”  
  
      Jack activated the outside viewers and they stood side by side, watching as the docking station grew larger and larger as they approached. Most of the docks were filled with ore miners and asteroid hoppers. On the far side, a huge deep-sleep carrier was tethered to several stabilizer cranes. The _Toshiko_ swept in, a cheetah among hippos, sliding into its dock with elegant ease.  
  
      “We’re in,” Tosh sounded amused. “All the protocols are still the same as last time. You have an incoming call, Jack.”  
  
      “Put it up.”  
  
      The view of the docking station was replaced by Arabella Espinosa’s face. “Jack Harkness. Welcome back to Freeman’s Dream.”  
  
      “Thank you, Arabella. May I introduce my companion? Ianto, this is Arabella Espinosa.”  
  
      “Madame Espinosa.” Ianto’s Welsh accent gave Jack chills. “It is a pleasure.”  
  
      Arabella ignored him. “Jack, you have been raiding the crèches in Lalande?”  
  
      Before Jack could respond, Ianto stepped in. “I can assure you, Madame, that the age difference is not an obstacle.” The soft smile could have melted steel. “Jack is a patient man.”  
  
      “Oh?” Arabella retorted. “And does he have reason to be patient often?”  
  
      “Having no previous experience in such matters, I wouldn’t know how to calculate _often_ , Madame.” Ianto’s smile widened as he rested his hand over Jack’s. “But I have no complaints. Especially in the mornings. And in the afternoon, in the library. And after dinner, of course. And…”  
  
      “I wonder if Jack enjoys having to play teacher as much.” Arabella interrupted the catalogue.  
  
      “Well, he says he does,” Ianto leaned forward confidingly. “And his physical response does seem to match his words.”  
  
      Arabella’s face turned an unlovely shade of puce. “Jack, you should perhaps spend more time training your toy not to speak so freely of private matters. Will you be at Mulligan’s tonight?”  
  
      “Most likely. I want to show Ianto the best Freeman’s Dream has to offer.”  
  
      “Perhaps I’ll see you there, then.”  
  
      The transmission was cut off. In the sudden silence, Ianto dropped a single venomous word. “Bitch.”  
  
      Tosh’s snicker was the last straw for Jack. He threw his head back and roared with laughter.


	6. Chapter 6

      Ianto’s eyebrow hit an all-time high. “This is the best Freeman’s Dream can offer?”  
  
      “The Free Men have very basic needs,” Jack explained, managing to keep a straight face. “A thermal scoop to dig for minerals, a skimmer to bring them to the Store to be sold, and a place to spend the money. This is the place to spend the money.”  
  
      “I see.” Ianto sipped at his drink and made a face. “And the twenty-fifth century Giakkian horse opera decor is meant to inspire thoughts of the wild and woolly American West, I suppose?”  
  
      Jack gave him a mock-affronted look. “Hey! I’ll have you know the Giakki spent serious time and money researching human history just to create an authentic atmosphere for those entervids.”  
  
      “Yes, I can see that. The posters of the flying boats inviting us to visit Havana and the hologram of the Native American couple singing about some sort of a contraption with a fringe on top while being chased by a cavalry troop straight out of a Remington lithograph absolutely scream American West.”  
  
      Jack grinned. “Now you’re getting it.”  
  
      He looked around. Mulligan’s was showing its age. It hadn’t been much of a prize in the early days, but the red velvet curtains had faded to an uncertain ashes of roses and the wood underfoot had so much asteroid dust ground into it that it resembled an earthen floor. The food was still decent and the booze not too watered down, but everything else seemed to be sliding into abject disrepair. He would need to have a talk with Younger Mulligan, maybe pour a little bit more cash into the place. Mulligan was too valuable as a listening post to lose its reputation as the place to go to raise hell while on a flush bender.  
  
      “You own this place, don't you?” Ianto whispered.  
  
      “Nah. Too much trouble. I did lend the original Mulligan the cash for the startup, so they treat me as a sort of silent partner.”  
  
      “And you take information in payment instead of cash.”  
  
      “Oh, you're very good, mister.” A disturbance near the door caught his attention. “Heads up. Show time.”  
  
      He watched as Ianto's body language changed, going from casual friendly to subtly possessive. One of Ianto's hands, until now loosely wrapped around the beer mug, came to rest near Jack's, close enough to imply Ianto had the right to penetrate into Jack's personal space. At the same time, Ianto shifted slightly in Jack's direction, opening his own body to Jack but blocking anyone else from entering their mutual space. Jack had to hand it to him; he had the proxemics down pat. Even the most casual of observers would come to the conclusion that these two men were passionately, if discreetly, involved in each other.  
  
      The disturbance at the door dissolved into a group of men, all wearing black leather and side arms, surrounding another man wearing an open djellaba over black leather trousers. Jack caught Ianto’s faint snort and chuckled.  
  
      “Lucken Espinosa.” He whispered. “Arabella’s husband and chief of Security Enforcement.”   
  
      Ianto nodded. “Does he think he looks attractive in that fake desert robe?”  
  
      “The aggressively heterosexuals around him think he does,” Jack said blandly. “And that’s all that matters to Lucken.”  
  
      Espinosa strutted in, looking about as if bored, but Jack could see his eyes flicker towards them time and time again. Finally Espinosa made a show of having spotted them and moved towards their table, trailed by his bodyguards.  
  
      “Jack.”  
  
      “Lucken.” Jack pointed to the chair opposite him. “Care for a drink?”  
  
      “I’m afraid I can’t, not tonight.” Espinosa’s eyes slid sideways. “We have new settlers to… settle.”  
  
       Jack nearly snorted. All the work in the Station was done by the Techs and their Servos. “Then may I introduce my travelling companion?” He was proud of the fact that his voice did not hitch or quiver. “Ianto Jones.”  
  
      “Mr. Espinosa,” Ianto nodded but did not stand.  
  
      “Welcome to Freeman’s Dream, Jones.”  
  
      “Thank you. It’s an interesting place.”  
  
      “That it is.” Espinosa’s chest puffed with pride, as if he had built it all with his bare hands. “Good economic opportunities to be had. You might want to consider settling here once you part company with this old reprobate.”  
  
      “I’ll keep it in mind for a future date.” He smiled at Jack. “A very future date.”  
  
      “Are you suggesting that I am inconstant, Lucken?” Jack asked.  
  
      “Rumor has it,” Espinosa said with an offensive grin, “that you change partners…”  
  
      He was cut off by a bellow from the doorway. Jack didn’t even glance in its direction. He had been expecting something of the sort. It would be just like Lucken to engineer an idiot show to prove something or other.  
  
      “Harkness!”  
  
      Jack turned his head slowly. Hoyner Gantry was a half-ton of alcohol and drugs wrapped in a barely human form. He was one of the original Free Men. He came into the Station only once or twice a Common year, and only to stock up on supplies and get raging drunk; rumour had it that his hoard rivaled a dragon’s. Jack the only one left that knew anything about Gantry’s past, and that made Gantry blind with rage.   
  
      “Hoyner. Still alive, I see,” he said. “Can I buy you a drink?”  
  
      “I’m going to beat the tar out of you, Harkness!” Gantry stomped over to the table. “I’m going to take back some of what’s mine.”  
   
      “Exactly what did I take of yours, Hoyner?”  
  
      “You know! You damn well know! Get up or I’ll beat you into the ground right there.” Hoyner leaned over, jaw sticking out pugnaciously. “Get up!”  
  
      Jack sighed wearily and started to push his chair back, but was stopped by a firm hand on his arm. He looked inquiringly at Ianto.  
  
      “Please let me.” Ianto rose in a single fluid motion. “You shouldn’t have to bother with minor inconveniences.”  
  
      “Inconvenience, am I?” Gantry roared. “Get out of the way, boy, or I’ll beat you into the ground. Into the ground, you hear me?”  
  
      “You’re probably being heard by the Coalition’s deep satellites, although the decoders wouldn’t make much sense out of all the braying.” Ianto shrugged. “Not that it matters. You don’t have anything interesting to say and you’re repeating all the boring bits. Now. Go away and let us finish our supper in peace, all right?”  
  
      This time Gantry’s roar was more the sound of a maddened elephant than a human being. He pulled a telescoping baton out of his jacket pocket and whipped it to one side, pressing the button to release the metal rod inside. Jack kept his seat by sheer force of will. Gantry was notorious all over Freeman’s Dream for his use of the baton, but he was no threat to Ianto; the angels’ training made them damn near invincible in hand-to-hand combat, and he had made sure to supplement it with a full range of dirty tricks. Still, Jack found it difficult to stay still and watch Ianto put himself in danger.  
  
      Gantry twirled the baton overhead, then assumed a hanging guard position. Ianto waited, arms loosely at his side. Gantry went into another twirling exhibition, then abruptly launched the baton towards Ianto’s head. Ianto’s hand snapped out and caught the rod. A sharp tug on it sent the surprised Gantry stumbling forward. Ianto twisted and kicked, connecting a solid blow to Gantry’s rib cage. Jack winced as he heard Gentry’s bones crack. Another tug and Gantry was sprawled on the floor, moaning, while Ianto stood above him, baton in hand.  
  
      It had taken less than a minute.  
  
      Jack grinned at a stunned Espinosa. “Did I mention I stole him right out of the Lalande army’s advanced reconnaissance and infiltration training program?”

 


	7. Chapter 7

     Jack punched his security code into the shuttle’s command console and threw the switch that took the small runabout through the pre-flight sequence. Keeping one eye on the screen, he pointed to a small locker on the floor under the co-pilot seat.  
  
      “Emergency rations under there.”  
  
      Ianto slid into the seat. “No need. Even if I had the same energy requirements as my brother angels, that little fracas wouldn’t have depleted my reserves.”  
  
      Jack set the course and turned it over to the shuttle’s automatic systems. “Why don’t you?”  
  
      "Have the same energy requirements? No wings. You can’t imagine how much energy an angel’s body spends on maintaining them. The Ylnagii needed an image that would convey instant trust, and most bipedal species have legends about benign winged creatures, so they compromised on the design.” He hesitated. “Why the name?”  
  
      Jack didn’t even try to pretend. “Anyone interested in my past can find out about Ianto Jones. Let them think I chose you because you remind me of him.”  
  
      “And do I?”  
  
      “Yeah. You do.” Jack turned to the screen. “Especially the sense of humour.”  
  
      Ianto nodded but didn’t say anything else. They sat in companionable silence as they watched the Toshiko get larger and larger on the screen. As the shuttle came within range, the ship dropped a section of her shields and retracted the shuttle bay doors. The shuttle landed smoothly into its cradle. They waited until the skid clamps had locked it in place before getting out.  
  
      “ _Jack, Ianto, could you come to control, please?_ ” Tosh’s voice echoed in the space.  
  
      “On our way, Tosh.” Jack answered. “Emergency?”  
  
      “Not at the moment.”  
  
      They jogged to the control room. At some point it became a race, and they jostled each other for the lead in grinning rivalry. Jack suddenly felt lighter, less weighed down by memory and pain, fully present in the here and now for the first time in a very long time. As he entered the control room one step ahead of Ianto, he threw his hands up, laughing and wriggling his hips in a little victory dance.  
  
      A few seconds later he found himself face down on the tile as Ianto tackled him from behind. They mock-struggled for a while, rolling around on the floor until Ianto finally managed to flip Jack onto his back, straddling him and pinning his hands on the floor on either side of his face.  
  
      Jack felt Ianto’s weight across his thighs, Ianto’s breath ghosting over his face, and the sudden flash of arousal took his breath away. Looking into Ianto’s eyes he saw the same sudden awareness, the same cravings. He knew Ianto had to see them reflected in his own, and he felt both exhilarated and terrified.  
  
      “Ianto, don’t.”  
  
      “Is your memory of him so strong that you can’t see me?” Ianto whispered in Jack’s ear.  
  
      Jack clamped his lips shut to keep a sob from escaping. “Ianto, please don’t.”  
  
      Ianto scrambled to his feet. Turning his back to Jack, he stood at parade rest, back rigid, head down. The whole posture fairly screamed embarrassment. Jack stood up more slowly. He found himself unusually tongue-tied, but he knew he had to find a way to move them both past the moment.  
  
      “Ianto…”  
  
      “I am sorry. It will never happen again.”  
  
      Ianto’s voice was cold, each word etched in ice. Suddenly, Jack couldn’t tolerate the distance between them. “Ianto, damn it, listen to me. It’s not because I can’t see you. It’s because I see you too well.” Jack sighed. “I haven’t felt this way about anyone since him, and I’m not handling it very well, and I’m the one who should be sorry.”  
  
      Ianto turned to look at him and the brilliance of his smile took Jack’s breath away. “I can work with that. No, don’t give me that look. Barring a miracle I’m going to die out there, Jack. I know it and I’ve made my peace with it. But I’ll be damned if I die a virgin!”  
  
      A discreet little cough made them jump and turn in the direction of the Chula pilot's chair, where the Tosh web glimmered in a hundred different colors.  
  
      “I don't have a miracle, but I may have found us a wedge. Maybe two.”  
  
      “Start with the maybe,” Jack ordered, relieved by the interruption.  
  
      The hologram screen materialized already showing a map of Freeman's Dream, with the station at its center. “Ianto, did your briefing include information about negative space?”  
  
      Ianto's lids flickered, and Jack had the impression that he was accessing some archive inside his head. “Negative space is the name given by the Free Men to the areas of the asteroid belt that have moon-sized asteroids, some with atmospheres, in which there are no mineral deposits of any value. There are six negative spaces in the field, the largest of which is centered around Retirement, a dwarf planet two-thirds the size of Earth, with not only an atmosphere but also potable surface water.”  
  
      Jack whistled long and loud. “Don't tell me that's what the Corporation sold to the Amish group?”  
  
      “Corporation?” Ianto asked.  
  
      “The Corporation is the financial arm of the Shareholders. The Free Men like to pretend that every Shareholder is an equal member of the Corporation but the truth is that the lion's share of the financial power is held by the descendants of the four men who financed the original expedition. What the Espinosas, McPierces, Constantinouses, and Gowans want they usually get.”  
  
      “According to my contact in the Accounting department,” Tosh said, “the Shareholders believe that they have sold McPierce's Folly to the new settlers.” A bright red light appeared over a large planetoid on the edges of the belt. “The Amish believe they have bought Retirement.” Another light appeared over a larger round shape right in the middle. “The settlers do not seem to have specifically negotiated for security services. They seem to be under the impression that they are included in the purchase price. Interestingly, there is a clause in the contract that states the _territory under contract_ , no specific name, reverts to the Corporation if the settlers cannot maintain their colony for more than a Common year.”  
  
      “Bastards,” Jack said. “Put a small group of unarmed farmers in unprotected space and let the Universe take its course.”  
  
      “Exactly.” Tosh's voice was prim, but there was an undertone of something darker. “I forwarded a copy of the contract and all adjunct documents and recordings to our lawyers in sh'Klickshee. They will file an injunction in the Coalition District Court. Of course, they will send all appropriate notifications to the Corporation officers,” she sounded very, very innocent, “just as soon as the settlers are in physical possession.”  
  
      Jack laughed. “Well done, Tosh mine. And the certain wedge?”  
  
      “I did a little look-see through the ship manifests on file at the Excise Office. The deep-sleep carrier is owned by the Carlson Corporation, but it flies under the flag of the People's Republic of New Cardiff. The skipper may be one of yours, Jack.”  
  
      “Which line?”  
  
      The star map in the holographic screen was replaced by a woman's face. She had fly-away masses of curly red hair, and a gently rounded face dominated by huge dark eyes. Her full lips were slightly parted, and Jack could see a small gap between the front teeth.  
  
      “Oh yes,” Jack said. “Definitely one of mine. What's her name?”  
  
      “Leah Davidson.” Tosh giggled. “I got in touch with her. It seems there are stories in her family going back for twelve generations. She's dying to meet you.”


	8. Chapter 8

     The station's conservation biosphere was built around a four-story Chinese pagoda with a great deal more historical authenticity than Mulligan's saloon. The garden itself, on the other hand, overflowed with flowers and trees in a way utterly foreign to a traditional Chinese garden. While at the same time recalling them visually. Streams of chrysanthemums in pink, purple, orange, yellow, and white played the role of rivers and were spanned with delicate arched bridges. Peonies were massed along a wall pierced by a Moon gate, and wide-mouthed jars filled with water held lotus and Chinese water chestnuts. Flowering plums and white pines were spaced throughout; wooden benches had been placed under them, providing stunning simulated mountain views.  
  
      Ianto kicked off his shoes and wriggled his toes in the grass. “This is wonderful.”  
  
      “Thank Ai-Shi McPierce. She was an environmental engineer hired by the Corporation to maintain the habitats. When she married Tom McPierce, he told her she could have anything she wanted.”  
  
      “One hell of a wedding gift.” Ianto pulled up his knees, wrapping his arms around them. “What did Tosh mean when she said Leah Davidson was one of yours?”  
  
      Jack was getting used to Ianto's blunt way of asking what he needed to know. “I went back to Earth about forty years after I left. Looked Gwen up. Head of Torchwood, near retirement, Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire, and wasn't her Welsh soul horrified by it. Rhys had retired and he grew roses and mothered every team member's kids.” He smiled. “They had three kids. Dewydd Owain, Gwyneth Toshiko, and Pryce Ianto.”  
  
      He slid down from the bench to sit on the ground next to Ianto. “Andy Davidson had joined Torchwood, too. Head of Torchwood Cardiff, CBE, married to a nice Welsh girl, two boys, Meirion and Ifan.” He grinned at the memory of the tongue-lashing he had gotten from the ginger-haired former cop. “Gwen also sprung a surprise on me. I had these friends, Mickey and Martha. They married after Martha's first husband, Tom, died. Gwen had hired them to manage medical services for Torchwood. They had Francie, Martha's and Tom's daughter, and two boys of their own, Will and Jack. They named the poor kid after me. Can you believe that?”  
  
      Ianto chuckled. “I'm sure that with that sort of inheritance he must have had an interesting life. So you keep track of your friends' descendants?”  
  
      “It's a little more complicated than that. I didn't stay long that trip, but I did go back several times. One of the times it was...” he took a deep breath, “to leave my twin sons with Gwyneth.”  
  
      He turned his head to look at Ianto, but saw only a calm expectation. “I met an old partner. A former lover. John Hart. I was in one of my periodic death spirals, and he pulled me out of it. I wasn't planning to sleep with anyone, so I hadn't kept up with my contraceptives. I got pregnant. We both wanted the babies but we knew they wouldn't be safe with us.” Jack rubbed his eyes to keep from crying. “Once they were born, I took them to Earth to be raised by people I trusted.”  
  
      “What were their names?”  
  
      “Emrys and Blaidd. Gwyneth had married a young UNIT commander by name of Alexander Chesterton...”  
  
      “Emrys and Blaidd Chesterton were your sons.” Ianto flopped onto his back, laughing. “The two men most responsible for the human diaspora to the stars were your sons.”  
  
      Jack started to pout, then laughed too. “They had help, believe me. Their parents and uncles grew up in a tight group under Rhys's eye, and Gwyneth did the same for their generation. When I used to tell my team back then that _the twenty-first century is where it all changes_ I didn't realize that we were going to be directly responsible for it!”  
  
      Ianto rolled over on his stomach. “And in some cases those children married one another and their descendants have been intermarrying every since. How many lines, Jack?”  
  
      “At last count, nine main branches. Don't ask about specific numbers. I gave up counting a while ago.” He rubbed his eyes again. “Some died without issue, as the obituaries say.”  
  
      Ianto took one of Jack's hands and brought it to his lips. “And each and every one of them hurt.”  
  
      Jack turned his hand over to grip Ianto's. “Yes.”  
  
      They sat quietly, holding hands. At first Jack tried to pretend to himself he was doing it to fool the ever-present eyes of station security, but quickly gave it up. He liked this, not only because it brought back happy memories, but because he was falling for this Ianto in his own right, or maybe it was that the two of them were blending into one in his mind.  
  
      “There she is,” Ianto murmured. Letting go of Jack's hand, he jumped up, waving. “Leah!”  
  
      The red haired woman in ship's fatigues waved back. “Ianto!”  
  
      She jogged over, with that skip-jump in her step that signalled someone who spent a lot of time in zero-gee. Jack noticed that the body was a good match to the face: short, compact, loose limbed, and curved in all the right places. When she reached them she threw her arms around Ianto.  
  
      “Isn't this fantastic? Mum and tad-cu will be so happy when I tell them I ran into you!” She turned to Jack. “He left in a hurry, you know.”  
  
      “Mea culpa,” he grinned at her. “I had business elsewhere. Let's sit.”  
  
      The flopped back down on the grass, Leah between them but backwards so she could face them. She started to say something but Jack shook his head. Keeping his hands out of sight on his lap, he punched a sequence into his wrist strap.  
      
      “Now we can talk. The security ears will hear one of those awkward conversations that happen when one family member introduces his lover to another.”  
  
      Leah snorted. “That AI of yours is really something, isn't she? Welcome to the family, Ianto. Considering the family tree, one more leaf won't be noticed. And it's very good to meet you, grandfather.”  
  
      “Grandfather?” Ianto asked.  
  
      “Well, after a few generations it's impossible to keep track of the greats so a long time ago we decided that Captain Harkness was just grandfather to everyone.” She grinned at Jack. “Although I do know the line of descent. Emrys, through a daughter of the Cooper-Williams line, through a daughter of the Milligan-Jones line through a son of the Davidson line, with a healthy sprinkling of others.”  
  
      Jack leaned over and pressed his lips on her forehead. “It's very good to meet you, granddaughter.”  
  
      She seemed momentarily stunned by the simple acknowledgment. Her eyes opened very wide, and the gesture was a vivid reminder of Gwen's. She reached up to twist one of her curls this way and that until she could speak. Jack wondered if her voice squeaked like Andy's would when he was emotional.   
  
      “All right, to business.” She sat up straighter, and her eyes took on a hardness Jack had often seen in his own. “I'm glad you're here, because I am at the end of my rope on this one. The crew is spooked and I'm not too far behind.”  
  
      “Tell us,” Ianto said.  
  
      “Well, first of all, why is Carlson handling this? They don't touch anything below a couple of million Coalition credits. This trip is peanuts compared to their usual contracts. Then, there's me. I am one of Carlson's best. Last year I brought them a clear profit of twenty million Ccs and I got a one-tenth bonus at fiscal year end to show for it. I don't get put on milk runs. So suddenly, I get a phone call from old man Carlson himself asking me to take it on, and he sweetens the pot with a half-million bonus? That's overkill, even for me.” She shrugged. “I took it. It was a lot of money and my last run had been a bitch, so I planned to catch up on my reading.”  
  
      “Didn't work out that way?” Jack asked.  
  
      “Well, yes and no. Everything was fine until we found ourselves with a ghost in the machine.”  
  
      Ianto stared at her as he she had grown an extra head. “A what?”  
  
      “It's what spacers call a malfunction in the systems that doesn't really affect anything.” Jack explained. “A weird sound, a strange process repeating itself but doing nothing, a nonsense phrase popping up.”  
  
      “Except,” Leah said, “that we did identify the ghost. One of our long-range telemetry units was transmitting as well as recording. And I know that frequency. Every one of us in the family knows that frequency.” She looked at Jack. “We are taught to recognize as part of our basic education.” Her eyes went as flat and dangerous as Jack's own. “My ship was transmitting a signal to the 456.”


	9. Chapter 9

     Jack willed himself to relax. “Did you find the transmitter?”

     “Yes, we did.”

     “Did you disable it?” he demanded.

     “No, sir.” She seemed unsure for a moment, but then continued. “I thought it would be better if they didn’t know we knew, for now, anyway. I sent an SOS off to the Torchwood Institute and sat tight.”

     Jack threw his arms around her and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I am very proud of you, granddaughter. Tosh has some equipment that can track a signal back to the beginning of the Universe. All we need is to get to your ship without attracting attention.”

     “Well, the ship is a new model, lots of improvement over the old carriers. Maybe you’re curious about the design changes?”

     Jack snorted. “And how many people will believe that Jack Harkness would give up a night out on the tiles with a new lover in favor of studying a ship's design?”

     “I suppose it would set off bells, wouldn’t it?” She grabbed one of her curls and started playing with it. “What do you suggest?”

     “Simple,” Ianto said, with a faint smirk. “My cousin wants to show me her new ship, and Jack comes along because he can’t bear to be away from me.”

     She aimed a half-hearted slap at his head. “Oh, you!”

     Jack was swamped by a vivid memory of Ianto and Gwen teasing each other while Rhys rolled his eyes and mouthed _infants_ at him. This time he didn't push it away. There had been many happy moments for him in Cardiff as well as many griefs. Perhaps he should allow himself those too.

     “All right, kids. Let's go play.” He grinned at them. “And remember, Jack flirts.”

     He pressed a button on the wrist strap and disabled the perception filter, knowing that Tosh would meld his real self actions with the ones in the hologame she had been running. He extended his hands out to the two in the grass. They grasped them and he hauled them up easily. He felt Ianto's thumb stroke over the pulse point at his wrist, and he returned an intimate grin that made Ianto blush. Leah took one arm and Ianto the other and they exited the biosphere, leaving behind a trail of speculative looks.

     “Good lord, what are they thinking?” Leah teased, opening her eyes wide in the most artificial expression of innocence Jack had ever seen.

     Ianto chuckled. “They're thinking Jack's going to get very lucky tonight.”

     “Brats. Let's head down this way. Fewer...”

     “ _Jack! You've got trouble.”_ Tosh's voice sounded in his ear. “ _Flash mob moving in your direction from the z_ _ó_ _calo. It's not as random as it's trying to make itself out to be.”_

     As if he had intended it all along, Jack pulled his two companions into a narrow passageway that led to the shuttle docking bay. “We have a problem. Flash mob coming and Tosh thinks it's a hit job. We're going to take the shuttle as if we were going to the _Toshiko_ and once we're clear of the main station viewers we'll change direction. Ianto, take the front. Leah, any training?”

     “Black belt, Earth-style karate. New Cardiff champion three times in ten years. Will that do?”

     “Oh, yeah. Here.” He pulled two comm units out of his pocket and handed them each one. “Put them on. They're self-sealant, won't come off in a fight, and you'll be in touch with Tosh and I every minute. Let's move.”

     They ran down the passageway, but before they could get very far, they heard Tosh's voice. “ _Another mob forming at the docking module intersection. You're going to have to go underground, Jack.”_

     “Right. Ianto, Leah, this way.”

     He studied the wall. It was made of overlapping metal plates riveted together and then welded in place. Every four plates had a small cooling grille set in it at knee level. Jack walked backwards, counting, until he found the one he was looking for. He ran his hand down the plate until he felt a line of indentations under this fingers. He tapped out the code, praying there hadn't been any changes since the last time he had needed to access the tunnels. He breathed easier when he felt the plate swing inwards.

     “Inside.”

     Behind the plate, a narrow cylindrical tunnel sloped down into darkness. What they could see of it was painted a cold institutional gray. On this side of the bulkhead there was no soundproofing, and they could hear the thrumming of the station's massive engines somewhere below. Jack waited until the hidden door had swung back and then ran his fingers along the seam.

     “This way.”

     They moved rapidly, their boots making a muted sound that echoed off the curving walls. Luminescent squares on the ceiling cast enough light to let them see the way, but not enough to show them what was ahead. The tunnel curved and twisted, climbing upwards and then moving down again, until Jack had lost all but the most general sense of direction.

      They had been moving for a while when they noticed the tunnel was widening and getting lighter. As they came around yet another turn, they found themselves in a wide circular platform that seemed to float inside a large sphere. They could see other tunnels leading away from the platform at evenly spaced intervals. A massive half-dome was embedded in the middle of the platform. Several rods connected it to the top of the sphere.

     “Oh my God,” Leah whispered. “We're in the gyroscope.” She walked to the edge of the platform and peered over the side. “We're in the station's gyroscope.”

     Jack nodded. “And we better move. In less than fifteen minutes it's going to tilt on its side and if we're still here we'll end up a smear on the containment field.” He pointed. “We need to get to that tunnel. Don't run, we don't want to add momentum to this thing. Just slide. The floor is slick enough.”

     They moved as fast as they could across the platform, skidding around the sphere towards the tunnel's mouth. Jack looked over his shoulder to see Ianto and Leah moving behind him, their faces alight with excitement. He remembered the same look on his own face once upon a time, as he and Rose had chased the Doctor.

     They dove into the tunnel, landing in a heap, gasping for air and laughing. Jack found himself tangled around Ianto's chest while Leah had managed to wedge herself between his legs. They looked at each other and erupted again.

     “Ahem.”

     The discreet little cough made them jump. Jack looked up to find three servos looking down at them – well, aiming their viewers down at them for their Tech to look.

     “Captain Harkness, sir.” The voice came from a circular valve below the viewer of the largest servo. “Her ladyship requests that you and your companions join her at dinner.”

     Jack pushed himself up. “Galthorpe. Lovely to hear you again. Please tell her ladyship that we accept.”

     “Certainly, sir. Please stand on the servo's cargo space and hang on to the handrails. We shall have you with us in no time.” There was a moment's hesitation, and then the voice continued dryly. “You will be a little crowded but I do not think you will mind.”

     Jack could see the shock on Ianto's eyes as it dawned on him who was addressing them. He was also relieved to note that whatever Ianto's own feelings about it, he had an iron grip on his reactions. The expression quickly changed to one of bland expectancy as he looked to Jack for direction.

     “You heard the butler, people.”

     They climbed on to the small space and hung on as the servo shot down the tunnel, the smaller two keeping pace behind. The drone of their engines was loud enough to restrict them to hand signals if they had been brave enough to let go of the handrails. In a remarkably short period they came to a stop in front of an elaborately carved door on an otherwise featureless wall. They stepped down and waited as the servos sped down another tunnel and disappeared.

     The door swung inwards into an elegant foyer with archways to either side. Directly across from the entrance hung an exquisite Chinese scroll of peonies and butterflies, and below it a low table held a jade sculpture of Kuan Yin. But their attention was held by a servo shaped like a football with arms that bobbled up and down at eye level as it backed away, one of its many arms pointing at the archway to the left.

     Jack led the way into a small octagonal room decorated in the most impeccable Art Deco style. A table in front of the fireplace was set up for a meal, and several covered dishes rested on a sideboard against the wall beyond it. An ancient Chinese lady sat at the table. She wore an elaborately embroidered green cheongsam and her hair was swept back into a knot held by a emerald comb. Her eyes were a vivid amber, and she retained an air of great beauty.

     “Ai-Shi.” Jack picked up the offered hand, but bent to kiss her passionately. “Gorgeous as ever."

  
  



	10. Chapter 10

  
      The old woman tapped Jack's cheek with a long red fingernail. “Jack Harkness. As sentimental as ever.”  
  
      “I tell a beautiful woman she's beautiful and she won't believe me.” Jack sighed theatrically. “Must be that reputation of mine. May I introduce my companions? Ianto Jones, Leah Davidson. Guys, this is the legendary Ai-Shi McPierce, designer of the station's biosystems and not coincidentally, the gardens you were admiring earlier.”  
  
       Ianto and Leah bowed. Ai-shi gestured towards the sideboard. “Welcome to my house. Please help yourselves. Befriending strangers is almost always done best over a good meal. Jack?” She tapped her own wrist. “I'm sure you're hungry too.”  
  
      Jack pressed a button on his wrist strap and started a slow circuit around the room. “Now that you mention it, I am a bit peckish. Nothing like outrunning a flash mob to open the appetite.”  
  
      “They are getting worse,” Ai-Shi said. “The new fields haven't panned out as expected and the younger ones are unquiet.”  
  
      Jack arrived back where he had started. “We're clear.”  
  
      Ai-Shi's tone grew perceptively crisper. “Thank you. My dearest relatives keep trying to eavesdrop. Jack, what the hell is going on?”  
  
      “The Ylnagii think someone in Exec has cut a deal with the 456.”  
    
      Her only reaction was a small, jerky movement of her hands, as if to push something dirty away. “I wish I could deny it, but... Marcus has disappeared. I received a message through the Tech net four days ago. _Sit tight and find Jack_. And here you are.”  
  
      “Where was he sending from?”  
  
      “Tech net couldn't pin it down, but they think somewhere around Retirement.”  
  
      “That's about right.” Jack chuckled as he watched Ianto and Leah pile their plates high. “I think I better grab a plate before it disappears. You?”  
  
      “I think I've lost my appetite.”  
  
      “You will eat something,” he said firmly. “We need you still, beloved.”  
  
      She sighed. “I'll hang on a little longer, Jack. Don't worry.”  
   
      “You will eat.”  
  
      He went to the sideboard and filled a large plate, then ladled some fragrant broth into a cup. He placed the cup in front of Ai-Shi, and the plate carefully equidistant between them. Ai-Shi gave him a cool, ironic look and turned to the other two.  
  
      “What should I know about you, children? Other than your ancestry, of course, which is not hard to guess.”  
  
      “We're not very interesting, really,” Leah answered blithely as she speared a slice of red pepper. “But you, madame... wait until I tell my brother I met you. He's studying biosphere design. I think he has memorized all your books.”  
  
      Ai-Shi chuckled. “Nice try, child, but I am much too old to be cozened.”  
  
      “Tell her, Leah,” Jack ordered.  
  
      Leah shrugged and proceeded to repeat her story. By the time she was finished the old lady's face had acquired a faint look of distaste that told them more than an explosion ever could.  
  
      “We shall have to clean house, Jack,” she said calmly. “Corruption is one thing, but this is treason against the human race.”  
  
      “Not the first time it will happen, nor the last,” Jack said. “And in this particular case, not the most important thing either. No, hear me out, beloved. We have a chance to get rid of the 456 for keeps.”  
  
      “How?”  
  
      “Me, madame,” Ianto said easily.  
  
      Ai-Shi looked from to to Jack and back again. “I don't understand.”  
  
      “I was bred by the Ylnagii to destroy the 456.”  
  
      “That would make you an angel,” Leah blurted.  
  
      “A very specialized one,” Ianto said. “I am an Angel of Death. There are no others like me.”  
  
      “And how will you kill them, child? What can you do?”  
  
      Ianto made a face. 'That I cannot tell you. Not that I don't want to, I _can't_. It's sealed in my subconscious. I will know when I need to know.”  
  
      “A suicide mission, child?”  
  
      “Perhaps. Jack thinks he can rescue me, and I've decided to trust him.” He popped a small sandwich into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. “He is easy to trust.”  
  
      She laughed. “That he is, child.”   
  
      She exchanged a look with Jack and he nodded. Reaching into her robes, she took out two small metal buttons and handed one to Ianto and one to Leah. “Place these behind your right ear.” They did, and winced as they felt the bite of sharp metal teeth as the buttons burrowed under the skin. “You are now connected to the Tech net. One single tap and someone will come on the line. Two taps, and you're calling for reinforcements.”  
  
      Now it was Leah's turn to look confused. “I don't understand.”  
  
      “The Techs are not simply machines, Leah,” Jack said. “And they have very strong opinions about certain things. They will help us if they can.”  
  
      “Can I ask a question?” Ianto said, and seeing no objection in either Jack's or Ai-Shi's faces, continued. “Who is Marcus?”  
  
      “I should have told you that when Ianto needs to know something, he simply asks.” Jack said to Ai-Shi.  
  
      Ai-Shi smiled. “It's no matter. Neither one of us is ashamed of it.” She reached out and took Jack's hand in hers. “Marcus is our great-grandson.”


	11. Chapter 11

      They waited patiently while Ai-Shi finished reading the documents Tosh was sending her through the Tech net, her eyes flickering rapidly behind her closed lids as the information was input directly into her optic nerve.  
  
      “Can we do that?” Leah whispered to Jack. “With this thing behind our ear, I mean?”  
  
      “Yes, but you'll probably fall on your arse. It takes a lot of practice. Now hush.”  
  
      A few minutes later Ai-Shi's eyes snapped open. “Well, that will certainly put the cat among the pigeons. The documents will be a matter of public record in a few days. Tosh has made sure every Shareholder gets copies. I foresee one hell of an explosion.”  
  
      “This place, Retirement,” Ianto asked. “Is it that important?”  
  
      “Oh, yes.” Ai-Shi chuckled. “The majority of the Shareholders will never make anywhere near enough from their fields. Retirement is the one thing they hold on to through the lean times. A few acres of their own to pitch a tent under a real sky and die in peace. If they think Exec is selling that out from under them there will be hell to pay.”  
  
      “Can you ride it out?” Jack asked.  
  
      “Oh, we'll do much more than that. Everyone knows the McPierces have been kept out of Exec by the Espinosa - Gowan coalition. Now Marcus is missing and I am widely rumoured to be kept a prisoner in my own home. Everyone will believe the worst, especially since it is true.”  
  
      “So what's the plan?” Leah said.  
  
      “You'll go on your own pre-approved course as soon as you finish refueling.” Jack said. “They don't dare hold you up. Their partners wouldn't be pleased. But you will be transmitting through the Tech net, every minute of every day.”  
  
      “I need to sleep sometime,” she pointed out.  
  
      “That is so Welsh,” Jack said to Ai-Shi. “you show them the perfect solution and they go all practical on you.”  
  
      “Oi!” The single syllable exploded from two throats at the same time. Jack grinned impudently at Ianto and Leah.  
  
      “Jack,” Ai-Shi said reprovingly. “The data can be collected automatically. If you will allow it, my dear, the Tech net will open a permanent channel for data collection and transmission only. It will send out the information even if you're asleep.”  
  
      Leah thought about it for a moment. “It doesn't have an override function?”  
  
      “Only at your end,” Ai-Shi replied. “There's a built-in failsafe. The chip burns out if someone attempts to send any message whose electronic signature can be identified as part of a command sequence. You are in complete control of all communication functions.”  
  
      Leah nodded. “Fine, then, go ahead. What about Ianto?”  
  
      “Ianto has his own tracker,” Jack said easily. “Don't worry, Leah. Now, back to the plan. The _Toshiko_ will be shadowing you.” Her mouth opened and then shut as he held up a hand. “No, they won't see us. Beloved, can we ask Tech net to sneak in a few lines of programming into the Security satellites? Tosh has been working on something to identify 456 ships by tracking their phase field signatures.”  
  
      She closed her eyes for a moment. “Yes. Tell Tosh to send it to Central. They will run it every third sweep. More than that and it will attract Exec attention.”  
  
      “That should be enough. 456 ships are too large to phase fast.”  
  
      A small servo zipped in to hover next to Ai-Shi. “Yes, GeGe?” she asked.  
  
      “Incoming transmission for Madame.” The piping child’s voice made Ianto and Leah smile. “From the Security Chief’s office.”  
  
      “Thank you, GeGe. I will accept transmission in five minutes.” She watched him zip off with a fond smile, and then turned to the others. “Children, I need to speak with Jack alone for a moment. Would you please wait in the hall?”  
  
      It was phrased as a question, but they knew an order when they heard one They bowed and left without saying a word.  
  
      “Jack...”  
  
      He came to kneel at her feet. “I know.”  
  
      “He loves you already.”  
  
      He shook his head. “No. He thinks he’s going to die and wants an experience.”  
  
      “And you?” She pulled his head into her lap, and he wrapped his arms around her waist. “Will you grant his wish?”  
  
      “I never could deny Ianto anything.” His laugh came out more like a sob. “Except his life. I killed him once and I'll probably kill him again.”  
  
      “No, you won't. I forbid it.” She tilted his head so she could look into his eyes. “You two will give me beautiful babies, Jack.”  
  
      Jack jerked back. “I thought you had decided not to go through with it.”  
  
      “Marcus has been working on me, but with him grown and out of the nest and not inclined to provide... I am tired, Jack. Mentally, not physically. But this would give me something interesting to do, wouldn't it? Now, go. Take the young ones away and let me deal with Lucken.”  
  
      Jack stood up, wiping his face. He took her hands in his and kissed the palms. “I will see you again one way or another, beloved.”  
  
      “Yes.”  
  
      He found Ianto and Leah examining the Buddha. “It's beautiful,” Leah told him, running her fingers lightly over the delicate creamy white stone.  
  
      “It has been passed down in Ai-Shi's family for generations. They lost everything more than once, but they hung on to it. It's about a thousand years old.”  
  
      Leah snatched back her hand as if the cold jade had suddenly burned her. Jack and Ianto laughed. “Don't worry,” Jack said. “It has survived worse.”  
  
      “How are we going to get back to the docks?” Ianto asked Jack. “I don't think whoever started this is going to give up.”  
  
      “You're quite correct, sir.”   
  
      Galthorpe's voice had them whipping around. The servo was holding the door open. Beyond them, they could see a shipping container resting on a flatbed transport driven by another servo.  
  
      “Ah... Galthorpe, I don't think we'd fit in there,” Leah said, nearly stammering. “Well, we could, but...”  
  
      “Don't worry, Miss.” The voice was at its most butlerish, and they realized that if Galthorpe had had eyes they would have been twinkling. “That's for the zócalo rabble. But we need to provide the visual bait.”  
  
      The loading door on the container opened and they ran in, making sure whoever was watching saw them clearly. As the door closed behind them, Leah burst into giggles. There was a trap door on the bottom of the container that matched exactly one on the corridor below.  
  
      “I feel like I'm in a Giakki entertainment.” She struck a pose and declaimed like a barker at a carnival. “Handsome heroes! A great Queen and her faithful servants! A rescue! Secret tunnels!”  
  
      Ianto grinned. “Evil fairies! Cannibals! Risen mittens!”  
  
      Jack kept himself upright by sheer force of will. “Time enough for jokes later, people. Let's go!”  
  
      They clambered down into the tunnel. Another servo waited for them, this one a floating sphere ringed round the midsection by small lights. Jack disliked the tunnel servos; even though he knew they were controlled by Engineer Techs from the station's Maintenance Control Center, he couldn't get rid of the impression that they were miniature Toclafane.   
  
      The servo waited until they were on the ground and then zoomed off. They ran after it. After a while Jack lost all notion of where he was. His lungs were starting to burn with the strain, and he could feel Leah wheezing a bit. He turned his head to look at Ianto. He was running easily, face set into a serene mask.  
  
      Jack couldn't stop thinking about the things Ianto had sing-songed in response to Leah. Those were things very few people knew. Before he had left Earth for the last time, he had given the Torchwood Three archives a good scrubbing. Someone could have found out about the cannibals, but the evil fairies and the resurrection glove existed only inside Tosh's memory banks. Yet this Ianto knew about them.  
  
      He reached out to Tosh. _Tosh, could the Ylnagii have botched the job on Ianto?_  
 _  
What do you mean?_  
 _  
He keeps on mentioning things only our Ianto could know_. He told her about Ianto's joking conversation with Leah. _He's done it before._  
  
      There was a long silence, more like a hesitation. _Tosh?_  
  
      _Ianto and I have been practising our linking. You know how it is at first, things are not quite shielded, parts of one leak into the other._ There was another, briefer silence. _Someone did extensive work in Ianto's mind, true, but his memories were not erased, only suppressed. I think our Ianto is in there somewhere.”_


	12. Chapter 12

     Jack reached for a towel as he stepped out of the shower. He preferred the feel of cotton to the most luxurious air dryer. Actually, before Ianto's arrival he wouldn't have even bothered with that, preferring to walk around in the nude until he was dry. Tosh had once joked that all she needed to do if she wanted to become fabulously wealthy was to release some of the hundreds of hours of footage she had of him wandering around the ship in his birthday suit. Jack had simply suggested that when she placed the ads instead of _in his birthday suit_ she should say _waving his tackle_. It was the first time he had heard her laugh.  
  
      The servo had led them to the Shuttle docking bays. The area was patrolled by armed servos, and merchants from every space-faring civilization were peacefully attending to their own interests. Like every other mercantile power, contemporary or historical, the Corporation made sure that business continued unimpeded, no matter how unsettled things were at home. Leah had clambered into her little shell, barely large enough for herself and her backpack, waved at them, and tore off into the darkness. They waited until she had passed the perimeter guards before climbing into their own shuttle and heading for the _Toshiko_.

      Ianto had been quiet the whole trip. Jack got the feeling that he was trying to absorb everything he had learned. It wasn't the first time Jack had seen someone come face to face with the fact of Jack's immortality and the complicated emotional history that went with it. The only thing he could do was to give Ianto time to come to his own conclusions. When they docked, he had told Ianto that he wanted to take a shower and headed off to his own quarters.  
  
      He supposed it was time to find out the verdict.  
  
      _Tosh? Where is Ianto?_  
  
      _Zero-g exercise room. Jack.._.  
  
      He heard the slight hesitation. _What is it, Tosh?_  
 _  
I've been doing some research into suppressed memories. Sooner or later they force their way to the surface, but the process can be quite traumatic. Any attempt at influencing it can be a disaster_.  
  
      _What you're saying is that we need to let him recover his memories on his own? And that it can happen at any time, no matter how inconvenient?_  
  
       _Yes._  
  
      _After this is all over I am going to have a conversation with the erstwhile Navigator Ll'nau. Thanks, Tosh_.  
  
      He pulled on a pair of track pants and headed down to the ship's lowest level, where the exercise areas were. The Zero-g room was an indulgence, but he figured that, considering his possible lifespan, a few indulgences here and there wouldn't be held against him. A circular room with a fifty-foot ceiling, it could be entered from the ground or from an airlock halfway up. Walls, ceiling, and floor had been padded to prevent serious injury. It was meant to practice moving in zero gravity, and several holographic projectors could create realistic scenarios based on training needs. He wondered which one Ianto was using.  
  
      Entering through the airlock, he stood on the narrow ledge that prevented an immediate fall. Ianto was not using any scenario. He was simply... flying. Sweeping and tumbling throughout the space as easily as if he had wings.  
  
      And he was nude.  
  
      Jack made a slight sound. It must have reached Ianto's ears, because he stopped in mid-tumble and turned to look in his direction. His face lit up. Grinning, he launched into a flat dive that ended a scant foot away from Jack.  
  
      “You move like an Angel,” Jack said. He could have smacked himself for the foolishness, but Ianto seemed to understand.  
  
      “They gave me everything but the wings,” he said. “Otherwise it would have compromised the design too much. But that's not important now, is it?”  
  
      Jack shook his head. He had known what would happen the moment he had seen Ianto. He had told Ai-Shi he could never deny Ianto anything, but the truth was that he couldn't deny himself either, not this, not Ianto. The fatalist in him knew that there was little chance Ianto could survive their mission, and even if he did, there was no certainty as to what would happen afterwards. If he was to lose Ianto either way, he wanted memories to hold on to later. If it was selfish of him, so be it.  
  
      He untied the knot at his waist and let the pants fall. He could see the sudden stillness in Ianto's body, the uncertainty in his eyes. It gave him back some of his confidence. Grinning, he threw himself off the ledge.  
  
      As he passed Ianto, Jack wrapped an arm around his waist, pulling him close. He expected at least some surprise on Ianto's part but instead he felt Ianto's legs tangle with his and Ianto's arms come around him. Control was simply taken from him as Ianto started to roll slowly, aiming for the hand holds on the far wall. The triumphant smile in Ianto's face made Jack's heart stutter and then, finally, he threw himself heart-first into love.  
  
      “You are too smug by half,” he whispered in Ianto's ear as he dropped his hands to Ianto's buttocks and pressed their groins together. He watched as Ianto's eyes went wide then closed, and he heard Ianto's breath hitch. “It's time I take you in hand.”  
  
      “Please, do,” Ianto tightened his arms a little. “In hand, in mouth, anyway you want. Please.”  
  
      “Kiss me.”  
  
      Ianto pressed his open mouth against his, and their tongues tangled. Jack reached out blindly and grabbed a handhold, swinging them around and propelling them upwards as the kiss went on and on. He could feel the waves of heat pouring off Ianto's skin. He started to undulate his hips, rubbing their cocks together. Ianto moaned deep in his throat and matched his rhythm.  
  
      Jack tore his lips away. “Ceiling.. coming up.”  
  
      Ianto buried his face into the crook of Jack's neck, sucking at the soft skin there while his hips kept up the movements. “Take care of it.”  
  
      “Hold me tight.”  
  
      Ianto wrapped his legs around Jack's hips. Jack waited until the ceiling was within reach and then used his hand to break their upwards movement, at the same time rotating them until they were nearly horizontal. “We could stay like this.”  
  
      “Uh-uh.” Ianto's voice was muffled against Jack's shoulder. “Need something to push against.”  
  
      Jack nearly swallowed his tongue as his mind was flooded with images. He was about to reach for his wrist strap when he realized that the gravity was increasing gently and they  were being lowered to the floor. _Tosh?_  
  
      _I'm not watching! Anymore. Ah... good night._  
  
      He heard Ianto giggle and realized he had heard the exchange. Tilting Ianto's chin up, Jack kissed him again, taking the time to acquaint himself with every inch of Ianto's mouth, Ianto copying every one of his moves. As they reached the floor he rolled again, putting Ianto underneath him. Ianto's hips hitched up slightly, opening his body with complete trust.  
  
      “Jack. Fuck me. Please.”  
  
      Jack shook his head. “Not now. We don't have any lube and I could really do some damage. Next time, in my bed... the things I'm going to do to you, Ianto Jones.” He started moving again. “Now... like this...”  
  
      They were too close for gentleness now. Their movements became frantic and their breaths came in desperate gasps. Jack felt every muscle on Ianto's body tense, Ianto's back arching as he fought to reach his orgasm. The sight was so familiar that his eyes filled with tears even as his body was following Ianto into climax.  
  
      After a while, Ianto shifted slightly, dropping his legs from Jack's waist. “I think we might have broken a record or two.”  
  
      Jack moved until they were on their sides, mouths nearly touching. He was sleepy, and he could see Ianto was in a similar condition. “You think?”  
  
      Ianto pushed at Jack's shoulder until Jack rolled on his back and he could drop his head on Jack's shoulder and wrap his leg around Jack's. It had always been Ianto's favorite way to sleep. Jack threaded his fingers through Ianto's hair. Just as they were dropping off, he heard Ianto whisper.  
  
      “Next time, we have to use the stopwatch.”  
  



	13. Chapter 13

     The blare of the _Toshiko_ 's alarms had Jack scrambling before he was fully awake. He rolled out of bed, slightly disoriented, looking around for the track pants he had thrown carelessly to the floor the night before.

     “Here,” Ianto said, tossing him a pair of the loose, drawstring waisted silk trousers that seemed to be standard wear for off-duty Angels. “Tosh, what's happening?”

     “ _Incoming emergency signal from the transport. They're under attack._ ”

     They had followed Leah's ship for nine days as it threaded in and out of the asteroid field, following the routing beacons' signals. All travel inside Freeman's Dream was done at sub-light speeds; there were too many cautionary tales, all true in every horrific detail, of what could happen when a ship emerged out of hyper drive bang in the middle of an asteroid swarm. Leah, obviously protective of her human cargo, had chosen the safest route.

     Jack had been glad of the slow pace. He wanted as much time with Ianto as he could get before they had to face the 456. Ianto had obviously been of the same mind. Leaving Tosh to navigate, they had thrown themselves into exploring each other, body and mind.

     At first Jack had mapped the similarities and the differences between this man and the one he had lost so many centuries before. He had often wondered whether his memories were true or whether he had made them up as the real ones faded over the centuries and he fought to hang on to someone he loved, but he didn't think so. Ianto, the Ianto of twenty-first century Cardiff, the Ianto he hadn't admitted to himself he loved until he had watched him die, was still vivid in his mind.

     Sometimes he had to ask Tosh to show him pictures of the others so that the faces matched his memories again – _that_ was Gwen, big expressive eyes and delicious gap between her front teeth, loving, pushy, impulsive; _that_ was Rhys, steady, strong as Wales, and as much of an alpha male as Jack himself; _that_ hatchet-faced man was Owen, sharp of tongue and hiding a caring heart as big as a mountain; and _that_ exquisite woman was Martha, elegant, gentle, and tough as nails; and sometimes even _that_ was Toshiko, brilliant, sweet, shy, and with the bawdiest sense of humor he had ever encountered. But he never had to ask for a photograph of Ianto. That face had never faded.

     But this Ianto, this warrior built out of Ianto's flesh and Ianto's last breath, was worthy of love on his own merits. Jack had soon stopped the comparisons and enjoyed him for himself, and if sometimes a sly comment or an amused eye-roll caught Jack unawares and the memories flooded back, he accepted them as part of the whole. Now, as he ran behind him towards the _Toshiko_ 's control room, Jack knew whatever happened this Ianto would become as much a part of the weave of his immortality as the other Ianto already was.

     When they arrived at the control room, they found that Tosh had already set up the tactical screens. The center column had widened and two new sections, both equipped with virtual reality gloves and goggles, had appeared on either side of the main panel. Jack pointed Ianto to one of them.

     “Can you use these?” A single raised eyebrow was his only answer. “Never mind. Basic training for Angels, right?” He offered up the goggles. “Same principle. They control the _Toshiko_ 's shiva stars. Four on either side of the plasma nacelles. Tosh handles the feeds but the imagery is your own. Targeting disks controlled by thumbs, triggers by index fingers. Ready?”

     “One question. Why do these look like RAF flying goggles?”

     Jack grinned. “Nobody said one couldn't be stylish while kicking arse.” He pulled on the goggles and slipped his hands into the gloves. “Tosh, feeds, please.”

     The star field exploded into view. They were in a middle of an asteroid swarm, mostly mid-sized boulders. High and to the right, Jack could see the transport, its cannons extruded and firing. It had taken some damage to the hull, and one of its plasma nacelles had been sliced open. Surrounding it were five unmarked four-man stingers. They were harrying the transport, taking advantage of its limited mobility, one or two zipping in to fire at close range while the others kept the transport busy. It was a good tactic, but not without its dangers: two stingers, their wings and noses blown to smithereens, drifted powerless away from the battle.

     “Cousin Leah is a good shot.”

     Jack turned his head to look at him, and nearly dropped out of the VR environment. Ianto was balancing on an asteroid. Gigantic black and silver wings spread out behind him, and he carried a short Roman sword that glittered silver. But instead of a Roman warrior's kit or an Angel's black, polished armor, he was wearing a three piece suit. Pinstripes and red shirt. Jack took three deep breaths before he trusted himself to speak.

     “She can indeed. But she won't be able to keep them off for too much longer. High or low?”

     His answer came as Ianto turned and, in one smooth move, targeted a stinger that has launched itself into a steep dive towards the transport's ramscoop. The only warning Jack got was the sudden blue flare in Ianto's eyes as the sword came up to point at the stinger's own scoop. The _Toshiko_ 's floor shivered under Jack's feet as the shiva star fired. The thin red beam of the targeting gun touched the scoop on the panel midway between the two cooling vents. Less than a second later, the metal seemed to glow as the electron stream struck it. Jack could see lightning crawl over the hull as the energy found the wiring beneath the surface and discharged directly into the stinger's electrical systems. The ship spun wildly out of control, tumbling end over end to crash into an asteroid.

     Grinning fiercely, Jack turned to find his own target. Another stinger went the way of the first before the others realized they had a new opponent. One of them shifted course towards the _Toshiko,_ but it was persuaded of its folly by a peppering of shockwave grenades from the _Toshiko_ 's forward cannon. As the nose cone of the stinger separated neatly from the body, the others decided the prize was not worth the price. They peeled off and turned tail, heading for the thickest part of the asteroid field.

     Jack gave a small whoop. “Tosh, get a hold of Leah and...”

     “Jack!”

     The urgency in Ianto's voice was matched by the sudden blare of the _Toshiko_ 's alarms. Jack whirled towards the other man. Through Ianto's image he could see the shimmer pattern that signaled an opening wormhole.

     “Another one!” Ianto called, pointing over Jack's shoulder. He turned again to see another wormhole opening directly over the transport.

     “ _They're 456 freighters, Jack!”_ Tosh's voice sounded slightly distorted, as if she were trying to function at multiple levels, which Jack supposed she probably was.

     “We're not leaving these people behind!” He shouted angrily.

     The booming of a plasma cannon shook the _Toshiko_. Jack found himself dropping out of VR as he fought to keep himself from flying off his feet. He felt the ship shake again under his feet, and the answering fire of the shiva stars. On the tactical screen, one of the large red circles that represented the 456 transport suddenly bloomed and died to black. Before he could reactivate his goggles, Ianto pulled his off.

     “Can the _Toshiko_ outrun them?”

     “Not here. Too many asteroids...”

     “All right, then. We at least make them...”

     The _Toshiko_ gave another shudder, but this one seemed somehow different. Jack felt a brief moment of space sickness, and then a familiar rocking and churning. He hung on for dear life as the _Toshiko_ rode the current, trying to wrap his mind around this... _shift..._ in reality.

     Finally, the _Toshiko_ settled into a smooth glide, and then all sense of motion disappeared. “Tosh?”

     “Yes, Jack?”

     “What just happened?”

     “Something woke the TARDIS coral. It assessed the situation and took action to protect itself and us. It merged with the _Toshiko_. Then, it... talked to me. It showed me how to enter the Vortex. And then it pointed out we would be in much better condition, operationally speaking, if we also merged.”

     “Tosh, that's impossible!”

     “We did it. _I_ did it.” She sounded a bit smug. “An organic computer is extremely close in structure to a TARDIS, and you did your level best to recreate a number of TARDIS technologies in the _Toshiko_. The coral simply adapted to it and then adapted it.”

     “Are you telling me that...”

     "Yes, I am, Jack.” Tosh nearly giggled. “I'm telling you you finally have your own TARDIS.”

  
  



	14. Chapter 14

     “What are you thinking about?”  
  
      Jack looked over his shoulder. “I wish I could make sense of it.” He turned back to the vast expanse of twisting, flaring, erupting time-stuff in front of him. “I rode through that to the end of the Universe, clinging to the outside of a TARDIS.”  
  
      “I know. Tosh let me see some of your files.” Ianto stepped closer, standing close enough to Jack that Jack could feel Ianto’s breath on his neck. “What was it like?”  
  
      Jack chuckled. “Hot. Not in the flesh, though.” He tapped his forehead. “It felt like I was being scoured from the inside. The odd thing is, I forgot it almost immediately. There we were, at the absolute end of time, running for our lives, as usual. And then there was the Master...” He shrugged. “Too busy trying to hang on to my sanity.”  
  
      “That sounds logical. And now?”  
  
      “I don’t know.” He gave a harsh bark of laughter. “I haven’t seen the Doctor in centuries. For all I know he’s dead in linear time. He always did take chances, and he didn’t have many lives left the last time I met him.” He turned abruptly to face Ianto. “Would you think less of me if I told you it all scares me stupid?”  
  
      Ianto ghosted his fingertips along Jack’s jaw. “I would think less of you if it didn’t. If the Doctor is dead, so is his TARDIS, and you have become… I was going to say the last of the Time Lords, but that’s not quite it. You’d be the Lonely God, the last of the Great Legends, and you can see the human Jack bleeding away at the edges until only the legend remains.” He wrapped his hand around Jack’s neck and pulled gently until their foreheads rested together. “But it doesn’t have to be that way. That’s what we’re here for.”  
  
      “We?”  
  
      “Me. Ai-Shi. Everyone who has loved you and will love you. Your legions of grandsons and granddaughters. We’re your grounding mechanism, Jack. We’ll keep you human.”  
  
      Jack made an odd little sound as he wrapped his arms around Ianto's waist and hung on, burying his face in the crook of Ianto's neck. Tears seeped through his lashes. He felt Ianto's arms come around him and Ianto's hands stroking up and down his back, soothing, calming. Suddenly a memory rose out of the past, of Ianto holding him in exactly the same way, days after Tosh's and Owen's deaths, when he had finally allowed himself to grieve. He nearly said something out loud, but caught himself in time. Slowly, reluctantly, he pulled away.  
  
      “Thank you. I'll take you up on that, after this is all over.”  
  
      “Is there going to be an after, you think?”  
  
      “Yes.” He grimaced. “I sound so sure, don't I? I was sure... never mind. Yes.” He took Ianto's hand and pressed his lips into the palm. “Somehow. Yes.”  
  
      “I'll hold you to it. Now, what do we do next?”  
  
      Jack turned back to the control column. “Tosh, can we start the tracer program from here?”  
  
      “ _Not very well. Hold on_.” Jack felt a slight wrenching and suddenly the screen was filled with normal space again. “ _The asteroid field is heavily populated here, and I've shut off all the secondary systems. Let's see what's out there... yes... there is is. A massive phase-field distortion. I can track it_.”  
  
      “Elliptical path, Tosh.”  
  
      “ _Already plotted. I'm also projecting a chimera. If anyone looks, we're just another hunk of rock floating about._ ”  
  
      “Let's go, then.” He turned back to Ianto. “Why don't you go shower and get some sleep?”  
  
      “I don't need much sleep. You go ahead. I can...”  
  
      “ _Why don't you both go shower? No offense, but you both stink_.” Tosh said firmly. “ _I have it under control_.”  
  
      Ianto chuckled. “Come on, Jack, before she starts spraying the room with lavender.”  
  
      “ _Don't be silly. Ylang-ylang. Go_!”  
  
      Jack saluted in the general direction of the central column and followed a chuckling Ianto to his quarters and into the shower, barely taking time to strip off his sweat-soaked clothes. He hissed when the water hit him; Ianto liked it hot enough to scald off the first layer of skin. His lover grinned at him and held up a flannel and soap in offering, one eyebrow up in the old familiar teasing. Jack's mouth dried up, and all he could do was nod.  
  
      Ianto turned soaping up the flannel into obscene performance art. Well, Jack thought, trying to be fair, perhaps it was all in Jack's own dirty mind. Considering both propositions for a second, he decided it really didn't matter one way or the other. Smiling, he splayed his legs as much as he could and raised his hands overhead, wordlessly granting his lover complete access to his body.   
  
      “Your back first. Turn around.”  
  
      Jack obeyed, closing his eyes and waiting. The first touch of the flannel against his neck made him moan with pleasure. Ianto's soapy hands made circles across his shoulders and up his arms, then back down. Every inch of his skin down to his ankles was scrubbed gently and thoroughly, every muscle massaged, then sluiced down. It wasn't done in a particularly erotic way, but there was a subtle possession in the way Ianto's hands touched his body that aroused him more than an open invitation.  
  
      “Turn around.”  
  
      Agreeably, Jack followed instructions. The sight that met his eyes made him nearly swallow his tongue. Ianto was sitting back on his heels, knees apart, hands still holding the soap and flannel. His head was bent, displaying his neck in total animal submission. Memories slammed through him of his Ianto in a similar position; once he had shed his inhibitions, Ianto had been hungry for all sorts of experiences and Jack had indulged him.   
  
      “Ianto...”   
  
      It was barely a whisper, but Ianto's head came up. Their eyes met and Jack could see the amused gleam hiding behind the lashes, and it was so much the same and yet so different that he could have wept. Instead he watched as the soapy flannel was brushed across his toes, ankles, up his legs to his groin. There it became a whisper of rough wool over delicate skin until Jack was shivering with need, then it moved up, across the flat plane of Jack's stomach to his nipples, and up to his face. And then finally, finally, it was tossed aside and Jack was backed against the cool tile and his mouth taken in a wild kiss. He gripped Ianto's arse and pulled him tight, skin to skin, pressed together as they rocked, and there was no time, no more time, and Jack found himself coming, out of control, like a teenager with his first hard cock in his hand.  
  
      “God!” Ianto gasped, tearing his mouth away from Jack's and dropping his head to Jack's shoulder. “That was... oh God, that was...”  
  
      Jack chuckled. “Yeah. It sure was.” He grabbed a clean flannel. “Time to shower for real. And then... we can go to bed and do this properly.”  
  
      “I like improperly,” Ianto mock-pouted. “I like improperly a lot!”  
  
      “Improper is fun,” Jack agreed, wrapping his arms around Ianto's waist, “but properly,” he let his tongue rasp against the tendons in Ianto's neck, moving slowly upwards to nip at the chin and jawline, “in a bed, making it last for hours,” he nibbled at Ianto's lower lip, making his breath hitch, “that would be perfection.”  
  
      Ianto stared at him dazedly for a moment, then took a deep breath. “Right. Fine. Clean up.”  
  
      Jack couldn't remember ever taking a faster shower. In less than fifteen minutes he found himself flat on his back, Ianto sprawled on top of him, pressing him down into the mattress. He bided his time until Ianto was slightly off balance and then threw his legs around Ianto's waist and flipped them over. “You are a hungry, hungry boy tonight, aren't you?”  
  
      “More like grabbing the opportunity with both hands while we have the chance.” Ianto licked at the hollow at the base of Jack's neck. “For once it's quiet... Jack? What's wrong?”  
  
      “What you just said.” Jack rolled away and sat up. “It's quiet. Too quiet.”  
  
      “I don't understand.”  
  
      “You don't keep your Tech Net implant active all the time, do you?”  
  
      Ianto tapped the back of his ear. “No, I don't. The constant background noise was giving me a headache...” He tapped behind his ear again. “There's nothing there! That's impossible, isn't it?”  
  
      Jack nodded. “Too quiet. Tosh?”  
  
      “ _Yes, Jack_?”  
  
     “Tech Net seems to be down.”  
  
      “ _That's impossible, Jack. It would... Jack? We're being blocked. In fact... Would you two dial down the audio on your implants? I want to try something_.”  
  
      Even with the audio down, both men were rattled by the sudden metallic whine that assaulted their eardrums. That was followed by what sounded like an explosion, and then noise cascaded into their eardrums.  
  
      “ _Jack, someone at Tech Central is broadcasting false data_.” Tosh sounded uncharacteristically agitated. “ _Right over my sensory inputs. We've been following a false trail!_ ”

  
  



	15. Chapter 15

     “Tosh, calm down.” Jack pulled on a pair of exercise pants. “Check your TARDIS circuits. There should be a translevel communication system ready to be activated. Look for something that looks to human eyes like a fishing net made out of buckyball strings.”  
  
      “ _I see it_.”  
  
      “All right. Now, tune your sensory inputs to it.”  
  
      “ _Jack, I don't know if I..._ ”  
  
      “Of course you can. You're Toshiko Sato, the genius who developed force field technology. You can handle anything.” Jack ran for the control room, Ianto at his heels. “Besides, think of all the things you can do with it.”  
  
      There was a long silence and then a loud gasp. “ _Oh, Jack... it's wonderful!_ ”  
  
      “I thought you'd like it. Now, the trace?”  
  
      _“Hold on... Jack! The 456 turned the deep-sleep carrier around. They're taking it back to the station!_ ”  
  
      “Can you get a message to Ai-Shi?”  
  
      “I _think so. Yes_.” Jack and Ianto traded a grin at Tosh's smug tone. They waited for a few minutes. “ _She says to tell you that she has managed to isolate the Household net and the part of the Tech net that controls the biosphere, but she can't get a signal out._ ” There was a brief pause. “ _She says to tell you she's decided._ ”  
  
      Jack growled. “Now she does it. Damned woman.”  
  
      Ianto touched his shoulder. “Jack? What's wrong?”  
  
      “Ai-Shi has been sick for a very long time. She's been planning to have herself implanted into a tech body, but...”  
  
      Suddenly he found himself slammed into a bulkhead as Ianto grabbed him by the throat and shoved him hard. The rage in his eyes was so familiar that Jack instinctively fought back, twisting out of Ianto's hands and reaching for a gun he hadn't carried in years. Cursing, he threw himself at Ianto in a full-body tackle, sending them both crashing onto the metal grating of the catwalk.  
  
      “And you're all right with that?” Ianto was screaming at him. “I thought you loved her! You're fine with her becoming like Lisa?”  
  
      The name seemed to hang between them like a curse. Jack felt sick to his stomach. He pushed away from Ianto, crawling backwards to sit with his back against the bulkhead. Ianto sat up and the expression of bewildered loss on his face made Jack's eyes fill with tears. He blinked them back; Tosh had warned him that the shock of getting his memory back could drive Ianto into a breakdown. He needed to stay in control.  
  
      Ianto struggled to a sitting position. “Jack? Who is... Lisa? Lisa...”  
  
      A shiver ran up Jack's spine as he realized that Ianto's Welsh accent had deepened to the honey drawl he still dreamed about. “Ianto...”  
  
      “I nearly... killed you...” Ianto moved until he was sitting next to Jack. “She nearly... Duw. Jack, what is happening to me?”  
  
      The despair in Ianto's voice felt like a physical blow. Jack put his arm around Ianto's shoulders and pulled him close. Ianto fought him for a few moments, then collapsed against him, hiding his face against Jack's neck. Jack could feel the convulsions beginning to shake his lover's body. He wrapped his arms around him and rocked gently.  
  
      “Hush. It'll be all right,” he whispered softly.   
  
      “It won't. I'm a. monster.” The words seemed to trigger a frenzy as Ianto scuttled away from Jack. “You have to lock me away before I turn on you.”  
  
      The words, oddly familiar, released Jack from his own terror. “No! Ianto, no!” He stood up, then grabbed Ianto and pulled him up, holding him against his chest. “Listen. Listen. Do you know how Angels are made?”  
  
      “The Ylnagii harvest DNA and recombine for best results, depending on what they need.” Ianto whispered into Jack's neck. “They say there are people who burn their dead rather than let the Ylnagii have them.”  
  
      “That's true, as far as it goes.” Jack pushed Ianto away gently. “But that's not quite the truth. Come to the control room. I think Tosh would like to be there too.”  
  
      He kept his arm around Ianto's shoulders as they walked. He prayed he would be able to find the right words to keep Ianto from a psychotic breakdown but the truth was that he had no answers. The Ylnagii had left Ianto's memories intact, and then Ll'nau had lied to Jack about it, something for which Jack would extract full payment at some point in the future. But right now he needed to concentrate on getting Ianto out of this alive and sane.  
  
      They erupted into the control room, skidding to a halt at the sight of the glimmering figure standing by the center column, fingers creating miniature rainbows as they flew over a keyboard. She wore, Jack noticed, amused in spite of his shock, jeans, a long-sleeved jumper that fitted over very nice curves, and high-heeled boots.   
  
      “Tosh?” Ianto's question came out in a sigh.  
  
      “Isn't it fantastic?” She looked at them over her shoulder, and her grin was incandescent. “I didn't realize I could do this. The coral says I'll be able to maintain the avatar for longer period of time as I learn to handle the power fluctuations.”  
  
      “I thought you had merged with the coral?”  
  
      “Not quite yet. It says I need a bit more training.” She looked back at the screen. “I've been sweeping the whole area for signals. Nothing so far. We're moving slowly, but I'm afraid of getting blindsided again.”  
  
      As he moved closer to examine the information on the data screen, Jack could feel the tingle Vortex energy wash over his nerve endings. “How broad the sweep?”  
  
      “As broad as I can make it. I do have one good piece of news. I scooped up some encrypted orders from New Cardiff. The Second Fleet has been diverted to Freeman's Dream. They're three days away.” They shared a grin that faded as they thought of the bodies in the hold of the deep-sleep carrier. “They might be too late.”  
  
      Jack sighed. “One crisis at a time, Tosh.” He extended a hand to Ianto, who twined their fingers together. “Ianto has remembered Lisa.”  
  
      The glimmer flared outwards, then settled back into a dull glow.  
  
      “Are you all right?” she asked Ianto in a soft whisper.  
  
      “No. Yes. I don't know!” Ianto hung on to Jack's hand as if it were a life line. “I know I look like Ianto Jones. My House Master told me they had done it so that Jack's protective instincts would be... activated, that's what they said. When you gave me access to some of the Torchwood files I realized they had done much more than that. I just can't figure out what!”  
  
      “Let's sit down and I'll explain what I know.” He pulled Ianto down onto the steps heading to the central column. “Tosh, would you stay? I think Ianto will need both of us.” He waited until the avatar sat down on Ianto's other side. “You don't just resemble Ianto Jones. You are Ianto Jones. No, wait, don't say anything until I finish.” He took a deep breath. “The Ylnagii do not just harvest DNA from the dying. They also harvest their consciousness.”  
  
      The Tosh avatar actually looked shocked. “Jack!”  
  
      “It seems an adult who dies at the hands of the 456 makes the best Angel because his consciousness retains all the rage and terror of his last minutes. So the Ylnagii optimize his DNA to produce the Angel modifications, grow the body, taking good care to retain the facial features, and return the consciousness to it. It seems the familiar face helps reconnect the consciousness to the body.”  
  
      “That can't be,” Ianto objected. “We Angels don't remember anything about previous lives.”  
  
      “According to LL'nau, the consciousness is wiped clean of actual memories, except for the 456 and its reaction to them. But for some reason that I will wring out of him when I next see him, yours wasn't. Your memories were only suppressed.”  
  
      “Duw. Why?”  
  
      “We don't know.”  
  
      Ianto shook his head. “And Lisa?”  
  
      “Your fiancée. The two of you were at Canary Wharf when the Cybermen attacked. She was partially converted. You managed to smuggle her into the Cardiff Hub.” Jack faced him unflinchingly. “I killed her when she went out of control and started killing people.”  
  
      “She threw me into a... fountain? And you kissed me. You brought me back.” He turned to Tosh. “Would you let me see everything now? The stuff in the secure Archive, not the public files for the curious.”  
  
      Tosh looked at Jack, who nodded. “Yes, but...”  
  
      He stared at her for a moment, then impulsively reached for her hand and was surprised to feel a faint touch in return.  
  
      “You're worried about me. We used to worry about each other, didn't we?”  
  
      “All the time.”  
  
      Ianto turned back to Jack. “Why hadn't you told me before?”  
  
      “Because I was worried that a flood of repressed memories would overwhelm you.”  
  
      Ianto seemed to think about it, then nodded. “You were probably right. But no more lies.”  
  
      “No more lies.”  
  
      Ianto chuckled unsteadily. “No wonder I wanted you from the moment I saw you. I’ve been in love with you for half my life.”  
  
      Jack ran his hand gently over Ianto’s hair. “That’s only fair, because I’ve been in love with you for longer than that. It feels I’ve loved you forever.”

  
  



	16. Chapter 16

     Jack raised his head and sniffed like a bloodhound. Peaches. He could smell fresh ripe peaches. Odd. Peaches were one of the Earth fruits that didn’t travel well unless they were preserved in some fashion. Growing them in other planets had met with at best dubious success; he carried a few peach tree seedlings in cryopreservation, but had never found a place for them other than Ai-Shi’s private container garden.   
  
      He sniffed again. Definitely peaches. “Tosh, are you perfuming the air?”  
  
      “In a manner of speaking.”  
  
      Jack could hear the repressed laughter in her voice. “What you do mean, in a manner of speaking?”  
  
      “She’s growing them,” said Ianto from the doorway.  
  
      Jack looked over his shoulder. Ianto held out a beautifully ripe peach before taking a huge bit out of it. Jack could see the juices running down his chin. He felt himself getting hard.   
  
      "Come here," he growled.  
  
      Ianto sauntered towards him. His grin told Jack that he knew exactly what Jack was thinking about. Jack waited until Ianto was standing close enough to feel his breath before clamping a hand around his neck and pulling him close. He licked the peach juices off Ianto's face, then thrust his tongue between his lips, sweeping every corner of his mouth. He felt Ianto move closer, and he moaned as Ianto took control, using his body to back Jack against the navigation controls column.  
  
      "I am recording this for later use," Tosh intoned. "And since I am a sentient being under the Shadow Proclamation, fair warning being given, I hold the copyright."  
  
      The kiss ended as both men burst into laughter. Jack took the peach out of Ianto’s hand and took a bite out of it. It was perfect. And then, the impossibility of that perfect fruit hit him.  
  
      “Tosh? How could you possibly grow peaches without my noticing?”  
  
      “I’ve been doing some research into TARDIS,” she told him. “They all had a space reserved for greenery of some kind.”  
  
      “The cloister, yes. It still doesn’t explain how…” He mentally skidded to a stop. “You manipulated time.”  
  
      “And space, which, of course, to TARDIS are the same thing.” She agreed. “We now have our own cloister, and I’ve spent a few years planting peaches, tangerines, and berries. And some flowers, of course.” There was a pause, and then she went on. “It’s still a bit disorienting, living in two different time flows.”  
  
      “I was on the way here and she invited me to see it,” Ianto said. “I thought we could put together a picnic lunch and…”  
  
      “Hold off on that,” Tosh said. “Message coming in on the old shortwave system.”  
  
      “Captain,” Glenthorpe’s butlerish voice came through clearly, “I have a message from the Lady Ai-Shi. We have received a communication from master Marcus. He requests pickup for himself and his cat. He says you’d know where.”  
  
      “I do. Thank you, Glenthorpe.”  
  
      They heard the soft click that meant the communication had ended.   
  
      “Tosh, you know what to do,” Jack said.  
  
      “And I can do it one better.” There was a brief moment of what Jack could only describe as dislocation, then a stomach-churning drop. "Sorry. I'll get better with practice."  
  
      The large screen lit up. It showed a debris field, both natural and man-made. Large boulders tumbled lazily in place, while rusty hoppers and ore barges floated like carelessly discarded toys, bumping into each other and the boulders. Directly opposite them, a grouping of large boulders created a shape resembling a crouching animal.  
  
      "Where are we?"  
  
      "Fourth Lagrange point in the Freeman’s system," Jack said. "I used to bring Marcus here when he was young. He loved Kitty."  
  
      "That pile of boulders does look like a cat, doesn't it?" Ianto traced the figure in midair with his index finger. "Did you find it when you explored the system?"  
  
      Jack glanced at him. "You figured it out."  
  
      "That you were the discoverer of Freeman's Dream? It wasn't so hard." Ianto touched Jack's hand where it rested on the center column. "You have done this a few times before, haven't you? Find a new system, explore it, and then give it away."  
  
      Jack shrugged. "I'm rich beyond the most ridiculous dream of any human being. Not even my doing in any sort of conscious way. John and I made some good mineral strikes, banked most of the credits, bought a ship with the rest and headed out into the Opiuchi badlands, past Rasalhague. I had just taken the boys to Gwyneth, John and I were... a mess. Exploration was an excuse. We just wanted to run from our memories. Our pain." He gave a bitter laugh. "We hit the biggest cache of Carrionite scripts ever found. Seventeen hundred rolls, including one hundred and fifty curse poems."  
  
      “And where there are scripts there are curse stones?" Ianto said.   
  
      "And other artifacts. We divided the scripts between Cardiff University on Earth and the New University of Cardiff in Lalande, and auctioned off the rest. Tosh, impulse maneuvering, search for signal."  
  
      "Doing."  
  
      "We could have stopped right there, but John insisted in going out again. That's when we found this place. John was an excellent prospector. Most of those boulders out there are riddled with veins of blood opals and diamond nanorods, but they are hidden by the magnetic resonance of the rock around them. We made several trips before John died.” He shrugged. “There comes a point where money stops being a relevant counter. I spend it like water and the pile keeps on growing.”  
  
      “Compound interest is a wonderful thing,” Ianto agreed blandly. “Especially if you can get more any time you want. It’s a game now, isn’t it?”  
  
      “Signal detected,” Tosh said. “Two heat signatures.”  
  
      “Don’t tell me your grandson really has a cat,” Ianto snickered.  
  
      “Both signatures are human,” Tosh said. “Marcus and… well! Here’s a story.”  
  
      “What is it, Tosh?”   
  
      “The other heat signature belongs to Leah Davidson.”  
  
      “A story indeed,” Jack agreed. “Reel them in, Tosh.”  
  
      A thin beam of light shot out from underneath the ship. It seemed to probe at the boulders, first one and then the other, until finally settling onto an unremarkable looking one that floated among a sea of similar ones. As the light touched it there was a flare of red-gold light and a small cloud of dust exploded in all directions. When they could see again a two man escape pod was being pulled slowly towards the _Toshiko_.  
  
      “Magnetized hull,” Ianto said approvingly. “Chip off the old block, your great-grandson.”  
  
      Jack grinned. “Taught him almost everything he knows. Let’s go say hello.”  
  
      By the time they got to the cargo bay, the pod doors were open. A man in ship’s fatigues with a Freeman’s Dream Security Enforcement patch on the sleeve was helping a half-conscious Leah Davidson out. They both looked the worse for wear, clothes and skin singed and liberally spattered with blood.  
  
      “Don’t tell me. You were in the neighbourhood and decided to drop in for a good fight,” Jack said nonchalantly.  
  
      The man turned around. “You know me, I can never pass up a….” he skidded to a halt as he caught sight of Ianto. “Well, hello!” he said, extending his hand. “I’m Marcus McPierce. And you are…”  
  
      “Marcus!”  
  
      “What? I was just saying hello!”  
  
      Ianto roared with laughter. Jack crossed his arms and waited, pouting a little for effect, but inwardly enjoying the sight. Finally, Ianto sputtered to a halt. He extended his own hand.   
  
      “Hello, Marcus McPierce. I’m Ianto Jones.”  
  
      “So Leah said.” Marcus shook the offered hand, then turned to Jack. “We need to get to the station. The Espinosas have sold Freeman’s Dream to the 456. Or at least they think they’ve found a loophole in the charter that lets them do it.”  
  
      “Any of the other families involved?”  
  
      “Ifraim Gowan is the only one I can confirm, though I’m not sure the family is behind him. You know the Gowans. Put four of them in a room and you have twelve different opinions.”  
  
      “How did you find out about it?” Ianto asked.  
  
      “The stupid bastards thought if they bypassed the Tech Net and used long-wave comm they wouldn’t be noticed. Tech Control contacted me and I went underground. I’ve always had a few identities planted here and there just in case. Got a job as engineer in one of the Security Enforcement cruisers and waited. When we attacked the carrier I managed to get myself into one of the SE uniforms and boarded it with them. Afterwards they were going to space Leah, so I intercepted them before they got to the airlock, grabbed her, and made a dash for the pods.”  
  
      Jack’s smile was full of sharp teeth and held absolutely no humour. “Tosh, why don’t you show us your new skills and get us to the station before the 456?”  
  
      “Wrong tense, Jack,” the computer said smugly. “I got us here already.”

  
  



	17. Chapter 17

  
      Jack ran down one of the station's service tunnels with Marcus and Ianto a few steps behind. They could hear the whine of plasma rifle fire and the thudding of heavy boots as the miners fought the security forces in the corridors above them. Even louder than the human battle was the horrifying, bone-rattling sound of ships entering hyperspace much too close to each other as merchants and haulers panicked at the sight of two 456 ships looming overhead. The station rocked from the energy backwash, sending them caroming like billiard balls off the corridor walls. Someone with access to the main gyroscope controls had managed to keep the artificial gravity field from collapsing, but the sudden changes in weight made movement even more difficult.  
  
      The _Toshiko_ had popped out of the Vortex on the Freemen side of the docks, sliding into an empty berth under cover of the mass exodus. Leaving navigation to Tosh, Jack scanned the communication channels. The whole quadrant was already buzzing. Someone had managed to send out an alarm before the 456 shut down the long-range comms. Panicked into action, the Klickshee had issued a general debt amnesty for first responders. The offer would flush a lot of rats out of the sewers, but Jack couldn't blame them; they had a lot riding on the viability of Freeman's Dream. Someone had a head on their shoulders, though, or maybe a sense of self-preservation. They had put their so-called rescue team under the command of the Lalande Habitats Armada – and the current Admiral of the Armada was one Blaidd Chesterton-Smith. Jack had a great deal of confidence on his gods-knew-how-many-greats-grandson.  
  
      It wasn’t until he made a third pass through the low-spectrum frequencies that Jack found the message: _you’re needed at NavTech Main._  
  
      “Main says Lucken's got snipers at all the intersections down here. We're going to have to go up.” Marcus's low growl made the implant behind Jack's ear vibrate. The Zocalo is our best bet.”  
  
      Jack nodded and motioned him forward. As a child, Marcus had memorized the layout of the service tunnels and he had kept up with all the changes; on the other hand, Jack hadn't been on Freeman's Dream for over twenty years. A couple of sharp lefts and they were facing a blank wall with a rusty iron ladder clamped onto it. Jack looked up and grinned. He remembered this one. In fact, it had been his idea. Positioning an escape hatch right under the tail bone of the Founding Freeman's massive sculpture had amused him. Better yet, it was keyed to Jack’s own DNA, so it could be opened only by his descendants.   
  
      They clambered up the thin metal rungs. The hatch swung open at a single touch of Marcus's fingers. The opening was actually in the niche behind the statue, and the first thing one saw was a giant bronze arse. It was actually a really nice arse, firm and shapely under the tight regimental trousers.  
  
      “This was your idea, wasn't it?” Ianto asked, in the tone of voice of someone who already knows the answer. “I'm standing here ogling John Hart's arse, aren't I?”  
  
      “You are indeed, and he would have loved it. He had a thing about you.” Jack patted the curve of Ianto's right buttock. “Eye-Candy.”  
  
      “Shut it, you two.” Jack could actually hear the smirk in Marcus's voice. “We're going to have to go around _that_ to get to the corridor leading to Main.”  
  
      Jack looked in the direction Marcus was pointing and winced. A mass of Freemen had congregated in the central square, and they were all armed to the teeth. They weren't completely disorganized; someone has posted guards at all the corridors leading to the living and working areas. Every once in a while some unwise security forces eager beaver decided to try his luck at getting past them and was picked out with a single shot.   
  
      “Not too bright, are they?” Ianto commented.  
  
      “Brains aren't necessary for security work.” Marcus replied absently as he looked about. “There.”  
  
      He was moving before Jack could say a word; shrugging, he followed, Ianto bringing up the rear. They managed to circle the outer edge of the mob, using the gaudy floor-to-ceiling banners that lined the Zocalo's outer ring as cover. Most of them were adverts for the Lower Zocalo brothels and quite, quite descriptive.  
  
      “I don't think a human body can do that,” Ianto whispered as he watched the holographic display in one of the banners. “Can it?”  
  
      “It can if it has several ribs removed and the spinal cord bone replaced with hyperflex,” Jack told him. “Some of the Outer Rim worlds go in for genetic engineering in a big way.”  
  
      A grunt of distaste was Ianto's only answer. In spite of his notoriously open mind, Jack agreed with him. _Hypocrite that I am_ , he told himself, _considering the man I love is a clone of the man I loved_. Still, the idea of a human grown to serve solely as a sex machine gave him the creepy-crawlies. _And Ianto was grown as an angel of vengeance for the human race. For me. After his purpose is achieved, what will happen to him?_  
  
      He shook his head. First things first, and the first thing was to survive this mess.   
  
      They were almost to the other side when their luck ran out. “Harkness!”  
  
      Jack sighed. “It’s never simple.” He turned around slowly, keeping his hands limp at his side. “Hello, Hoyner.”  
  
      The miner twirled his baton. “You know what’s going on, Harkness?”  
  
      “Yeah. The Espinosas have sold Freeman’s Dream to the 456.”  
  
      Hoyner laughed. “For once, you’re the one behind the eight ball, Harkness.”  
  
       Jack felt more than saw Ianto start to move forward. He held out his hand. “Not this time, Ianto. See, I think somewhere inside all that hatred, there’s still a real freeman. Someone who wouldn’t think of selling babies to monsters, or steal the retirement funds of friends.”  
  
      “What are you talking about, Harkness?”  
  
      “I thought you knew. The Espinosas handed over Retirement to the 456. They’re going to use it as a breeding farm for humans.”  
  
      “You’re crazy!”  
  
      “One hundred and ten men,” Marcus said, his voice wiped of emotion. “Ninety-eight women, sixty-six of which are of childbearing age. Twenty of them are pregnant, by the way. Forty-three children, the oldest fourteen, the youngest two.”  
  
      Hoyner glanced at him briefly before turning back to Jack. “What’s he talking about?”  
  
      “He’s talking about the immigrants the Espinosas supposedly sold McPierce's Folly to. They received the co-ordinates to Retirement instead.”  
  
      “It has taken a long time,” Ianto moved to stand directly behind and to the left of Jack, “but the 456 are on the run. My people have chivvied them from one side of the galaxy to the other. They…”  
  
      “Your people?” Hoyner snorted. “Those fat, lazy fucks back in Lalande?”  
  
      Ianto smiled gently. “Jack lies sometimes. I’m not from Lalande.”  
  
      He stepped forward, hands held out to his side, palms up. Jack felt it before he saw it. Ianto _changed_. The beautiful young man fell away to be replaced by an incandescent being that could be nothing else than what he seemed to be. Heads turned as the mob realized there was a Power in their midst. Jack knew it was a projection of some sort, but he couldn’t even begin to calculate the energy levels needed to sustain it.  
  
      “You’re an angel,” the miner whispered.   
  
      “I am.”  
    
      Gantry hesitated for a moment and then stepped aside. “Go. We’ll keep the sec pigs off you as much as we can.”

  
  



	18. Chapter 18

         “Have I finally managed to shock you, my captain?”  
  
      Jack stared at the exquisite golden form in front of him. He hadn’t known what to expect; Ai-Shi had refused to discuss any aspect of her conversion. Now he realized that, in spite of everything he knew about cybernetic technology, part of him had been bracing for a Cyberman, a heavy, clumsy, metal Frankenstein with antennas and switches sticking out all over. Instead he was looking at a perfect female body made of interlocking silver and gold rings etched with delicate patterns that Jack suspected were actually circuitry. They gleamed as she moved, revealing and concealing at the same time. It was a body that made no pretense to being flesh and blood but raised the human shape into a work of art. He looked into the space where the human face would have been, and found Ai-Shi looking back at him, gold and silver but unmistakably herself.  
  
      “You are as exquisite as ever,” he managed to say through a dry throat. “My beautiful beloved.”  
  
      She smiled – or gave the impression of a smile, he didn’t know which one – and turned to Ianto. “Welcome to Navtech Main, young Angel.”  
  
      Ianto raised her metal hand to his lips. “I am honored, Madame.”  
  
      “Grandmother, you are gorgeous!” Marcus snuck around Ianto and grabbed Ai-Shi in a bear hug. “And heavy. Bloody heavy.”  
  
      She smacked him lightly. “You never discuss a lady’s weight, you lout! Now, though I’d love to keep on flirting with all you pretty boys, we have some business to take care of.” She led them to a massive array of workstations. “Galthorpe, status report.”  
  
      The servo made a motion eerily reminiscent of a human bow. 'The security forces have barricaded themselves in the hospital wing. The 456 are employing remote controlled equipment to retrofit the quarantine facilities.”  
  
      Jack shivered as memories of kneeling in front of an unbreakable glass wall. “Can we jettison that section?”  
  
      “No, sir,” Galthorpe said, sounding rather disappointed. “They have disabled the sealing mechanism. If we blow them into space all that section will be exposed to vacuum. There are several thousand people trapped there.”  
  
      Jack studied the holographic map of the station that hovered above the workstations. “Schematics, please, Galthorpe.” The hologram changed, splitting apart to show each level separately, with every life support system color-coded. He traced a dark blue line with a fingertip. “They're converting the quarantine sections into a habitat. Oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen flows are shut off, and argon and methane have been opened wide. The only thing keeping those people alive is that the station's gravitational field is holding the old air in.”  
  
      “The recycler systems are off too,” Ai-Shi said. “Without new flows it's going to get very hot and stale in there.”  
  
      “What happens then?” Marcus asked.   
  
      “Depends on what the 456 need. If they haven't fed in a while, they will let them die slowly. Adults aren't as good as children, but they will do. If they're full, they'll blow out the air and kill them fast.” Jack examined the hologram again. “Let's hope they're hungry. It'll buy us time. Marcus, how fast can you mount a rescue mission?”  
  
      “Not long at all.” The fierce grin transformed Marcus's face into a near carbon copy of Jack's. “Galthorpe and I have been planning for all sorts of contingencies since we caught on to the Espinoza's plans.”  
  
      “I don't think you have more than one hour. Use remotes to bring people out. We can't afford to lose either one of you. Worse case scenario, we will have to jettison the medical section, no matter what.”  
  
      “No.”  
  
      Jack turned his head and met Ianto's eyes. The eerie certainty in them sent a flash of memory tumbling through Jack's mind. It was gone before he could grasp it, but it did leave behind a revelation. “You know what you have to do.”  
  
      “Yes.” Ianto smiled. “My lady, was the installation completed?”  
  
      “Yes, young Angel.” Ai-Shi made a gesture towards the hologram and a new set of lines appeared. Glimmering orange-gold, they twined themselves in every direction, a spider web covering every area of the station. “It has been tested. It works.”  
  
      Jack stared at the two of them. “Ai-Shi?”  
    
      Her elegant metal hand came to rest on his arm. “I am sorry, beloved. I have been keeping secrets from you.”  
  
      For a moment, the pain was more than he could bear. Then he drew a deep breath. If Ai-Shi had kept something from him, she had had a good reason. “Will you tell me why?”  
  
      “A few years ago the Ylnagii sent an intermediary with a proposal. They had found a a way to destroy the 456. And maybe...” she looked at Ianto out of the corner of her eye, “give you back something they had taken from you. In exchange, they would support the Techs' claim to personhood. We,” her other hand swept around the room, “thought it was a good trade.”  
  
      “What did they ask you to do?”  
  
      “To build a transmitter using the station as the modulator.”  
  
      Jack's jaw dropped. “What kind of an input signal would need a modulator this big?”  
  
      “That's where I come in,” Ianto said. “Remember I told you about the energy needed to maintain an angel's wings? I believed I wasn't given wings because they needed me to move about without attracting attention. But that wasn't it. I need the energy to transmit a message to the 456.”  
  
      “A message? Marcus's skepticism was plain. “What are you going to say? _Shoo, go away_?”  
  
      Ianto laughed. “Something like that.”  
  
      Jack made an attempt at marshaling a logical argument. “Ianto, there's no way you can reach across the galaxy even with a transmitter this large.”  
  
      “I don't need to. The station will amplify my thoughts to reach every every 456 in this quadrant. That will be enough.”  
  
      “Ianto, that won't work,” Jack said urgently. “They're not a hive mind. We tried that on Zeta Ophiuchi and we barely got out with our lives.”  
  
      “You were on the right track, Jack. You just didn't go far enough. The 456 are not a hive mind. The 456 is a single mind. The bodies are nothing but mindless remotes, like the ones the Techs use. It is an ancient and powerful mind, and it believes it has the absolute right to take what it needs. ”  
  
      “What does it need?” Marcus asked.  
  
      “Energy. Immense amounts of it, in a very specific frequency. The bodies collect it and feed it to the mind and in turn the mind uses some of it to support the bodies.” Ianto's smile grew vicious. “I'm just going to introduce a little positive feedback into the system.”

  
  



	19. Chapter 19

  
      Jack sat with his back pressed against the cold metal of the observation deck bulkhead, watching supply freighters stream out of the 456 ships. He felt detached, as if part of him had become simply an observer. He knew that part was preparing to lose Ianto again, and he resented it, but he couldn't push the thought away.  
  
      “It will be worth it.”  
  
      “Will it?” He kept his eyes on the ships. “Will it really?”  
    
      Ianto sat down next to him in the graceful sprawl he seemed to have retained from his previous incarnation. “The more the 456 feeds the more energy he needs, Jack. If it keeps on it will destabilize the Universe.”  
  
      Jack shook his head. “I've been to the end of the Universe. It dies cold and dark and the last humans become horrible monsters.”  
  
      “The Toclafane. Don't look so surprised, cariad. The Ylnagii have been gathering... Why are you looking at me like that?”  
  
      Jack's fingers shook as he traced Ianto's jaw. “You called me cariad.”  
  
      “The memory trigger was quite thorough.” Ianto kissed Jack's palm. “What you saw was only one possible future, Jack. There are others. And you're the one who can make them happen.”  
  
      “People keep saying things like that to me. I signed on to be dumb muscle, Ianto. The doc was the brains, I just followed his orders.”  
  
      “That was a very long time ago.” The teasing emphasis made Jack scowl and Ianto chuckle. “Don't worry, Jack. You're as beautiful as ever.”  
  
      Jack tangled his hand into the curls at Ianto's nape. “You are the beautiful one, Ianto Jones. Always were. The warrior with the face of an angel. No wonder that nameless bastard wanted to harvest you.”  
  
      He saw Ianto's eyes flare right before being pulled into a passionate kiss. Ianto's hands framed Jack's head to hold it in place. Jack's hands moved automatically to mirror the gesture. A sudden flash of memory brought back the face of a very young, doomed soldier. As they broke the kiss, gasping, Jack rubbed his thumbs across Ianto's lips.  
  
      “The first time you kissed me like this...”  
  
      “Was the night before we sent Tommy back. It was the first time you told me you loved me.”  
  
      Jack shook his head. “I never said the words.”  
  
      “I know.” Ianto bit the pad of Jack's thumb. “But that night, when you said you wouldn't have missed the people you had loved for the world, you looked at me with so much love in your eyes and I knew. You always spoke your deepest truths indirectly.”  
  
      “Then you may not believe this now, but I swear to you it is the truth. I love you, Ianto Jones and I always will. Even if I live until the stars die away.”  
  
      “We'll need to do something about that, love.” Ianto said lightly. “I don't like the idea of your being lonely after I'm gone.”  
  
      Jack shuddered. “Don't say that. Not yet.”  
  
      “All right.” Ianto jumped to his feet and extended his hand down. “Come on, Jack. We have an Universe to save.”  
  
      Jack let Ianto leverage him up.“Same old, same old.”  
  
      They walked hand in hand into the command center. One of Galthorpe's servos floated near one of the screens, watching impassively as data scrolled upwards. At the far end of the room, Marcus and Ai-Shi were whispering. From the body language, Jack knew they were having one of their famous knock-down drag-outs. He decided he valued his own hide too much to get in the middle of it.  
  
      “Time, Captain.” Galthorpe said, swiveling slightly towards them. “They are fully connected to the station's systems.”  
  
      “Did they notice anything?”  
  
      “Not a thing, sir.” Galthorpe was definitely amused. “The 456 are worse than the Freemen when it comes to noticing Tech.”  
  
      “I am going, grandmother!”  
  
      The exasperated growl made them all turn. Marcus was striding towards them. Jack knew what was coming. But before he could say anything, Ianto stopped him with a light touch to the wrist.  
  
      “Let me.”   
  
      For a moment, Jack wondered if he was the only one who noticed the change as Ianto shifted into his Angel persona. Then he heard Galthorpe's quiet whistle and saw Ai-Shi's eyes widen slightly.   
  
      “You are not going with us,” Ianto said before Marcus had a chance to open his mouth. “If I fail, you will have to take over the Freemen and fight off the 456. They cannot take Freeman's Dream. It would give them a nearly impregnable base. It cannot happen.”  
  
      The authority in his voice staggered Jack. It seemed to cut the ground out from under Marcus, who still managed a retort. “You need someone to watch your back!”  
  
      “I'll take care of that.”  
  
      Toshiko's voice seemed to echo in the room. A bit confused, Jack tapped the implant behind his ear. “Tosh?”  
  
      The air sparkled as a column of light formed in the space between the command console and the viewscreen. It whirled and spun, tighter and tighter, solidifying until the Toshiko avatar stood in front of them. She had traded her usual jeans and jumper for a tight-fitting catsuit and heeled boots. Jack grinned. He had always known that sweet, brainy Toshiko had a badass alter-ego hidden away.  
  
      “I don't care what the classic vids say, that's never going to catch on as a way of travel. Ugh. I could feel my back teeth dissolving,” the avatar said conversationally, “though it probably helps that I have my own power source. Galthorpe, I've placed copies of my research notes in your medical database. I think it'll help with your power fluctuation issues.”  
  
      She patted the clearly bemused servo and passed on. “Ai-Shi, you look stunning. We need to exchange beauty tips, you and I.”  
  
      Jack decided it was time to step in. “Tosh? Care to share?”  
  
      Her smile was pure deviltry. “It's a long story, but it boils down to this. While we waited for Tech to finish rewiring the 456 habitat right under their noses, I decided to do a little research into cybernetics. Specifically I was looking for some mechanism that would allow my avatar to function independently of the ship's systems.”  
  
      “And you managed to find it in a few hours?”  
  
      “Well, it actually took sixty years.”  
  
      He gaped. “How...? Never mind. A timey-wimey thing?”  
  
      “Exactly. Marcus, if we don't make it, I've left all the command control sequences for the _Toshiko_ in a triple-locked time pocket. Leah knows how to open it. I also left a personality kernel implanted in the secondary memory, just in case. I have no idea what would happen to ship-me if this body gets killed.” She turned back to Jack. “Now can we go kick 456 arse?”  
  
      Ai-Shi was studying the screens. “The service tunnels haven't been flushed clean of all the poison gases the security service pumped into them, so you'll have to go above-ground. The way is clear to the Zocalo. After that it gets a little dicey.”  
  
      Jack shrugged. “ Doesn't it always?”  
  
      They kept to the maze of secondary corridors. Ai-Shi had been right. As they got closer to the Zocalo they began to hear the shrill whine of plasma rifles and the bark of the old-fashioned projectile guns some of the miners preferred. Closer still, they began to see bodies. Several of them wore a kind of uniform – gray fatigues with a black patch resembling an eye on the left shoulder. Jack's lip curled with disgust. A Freeman never wore an uniform. Even the Security lifers preferred their own clothes and were identifiable only by the breast patch that doubled as their link to the comm net. These were bastards who had sold their services to the 456.   
  
      The Zocalo itself was remarkably quiet. A Security squad was pinned down behind overturned tables by gunfire coming from the mezzanine. A couple of them were bellowing into their communicator patches. Jack snickered, wondering how long it would take them to figure out they were cut off.  
  
      “Keep your back to the wall.” He told Ianto and Tosh. “We're heading for that door over there.”  
  
      They door obviously doubled as an ad for the business beyond, promising untold fleshly delights to anyone of any race visiting the Peony Palace. Beyond it was a small circular foyer with heavy red and gold curtains framing a glass door with .  
  
      “This was your idea,” Ianto sighed. “Of course it was.”  
  
      Laughing, Jack pushed two of the curtain panels aside to press his hand into a depression shaped vaguely like a hand. He felt a slight tingle in his palm as the chameleon circuit verified his identity. The wall disappeared to show a short service tunnel. Through the opening at the far end, they could see the gyroscope.  
  
      Ianto pressed a hard kiss on Jack's mouth, then sprinted down the corridor. “Allons-y!”

  
  



	20. Chapter 20

     “It's beautiful.”   
  
      The Tosh avatar breathed the words so only Jack could hear. He had to agree with her. The plain, functional gyroscope had been converted into a crystalline spiderweb hanging from a framework of silver rods. Somewhere, Jack knew, there was a secondary gyroscope keeping the station in orbit with full gravity.  
  
      “Jack,” the avatar sounded uncharacteristically hesitant. “What he said back there...”  
  
      Instinctively, he reached for her hand and was not surprised to find it completely real, down to a gentle pulse at the wrist. “I know, Tosh. The conversation with Navigator Ll'nau is getting longer every day.”  
  
      They watched as Ianto moved along the spiderweb filaments. After a few minutes Jack realized what Ianto was doing. The Angel – because it was the Angel making himself felt – was using the web in the same way the Christiani of Opiuchi Prime used their meditation mazes or the Ood used their plain descants. He was opening the center of himself, reaching down and finding the words, the _feelings_ , that would drive a stake through whatever passed for the 456's heart.  
  
      Each of Ianto's steps made energy ripple outwards. As he reached the center of the web the silver rods realigned, one end pointing directly at him, the others radiating upwards and outwards, lifting the web until it became a protective cage around Ianto's body. Ianto brought his hands together at heart-level and pressed his palms together into anjali mudra and closed his eyes.  
  
      At first there was only silence. Then Jack felt a light shiver racing up and down his spine, something like the feeling of being touched by cold hands. It increased slowly, building not only in strength but complexity, until his entire body was shaking. Tosh fell to her knees, but her face wore a wide, joyful smile. The metal decking under Jack's feet rattled and whine as the stress began to shake molecules loose. Overhead, the silver rods vibrated, and the air was filled with the sound of glissandi being played on giant harps.   
  
      The web around Ianto began to glow as the energy built. He seemed unaffected, standing calmly at the center of the storm. Then his eyes opened and Jack's breath caught as he saw the blue fire that blazed outwards. His hands moved apart, rotating slowly until his palms faced outwards. Then he _pushed_.  
  
      Jack counted his own heartbeats... _five... six...seven_....and suddenly his mind was filled with a roar so vast that, for a terrifying moment, he was blind and deaf. The sound was a physical presence, all arrogance and contempt for the insignificant food-animals that dared challenge it. The blast rocked the station and sent him tumbling to the deck next to Tosh. He managed to raise his head and look at Ianto. The blast had been aimed directly at him. It should have knocked him unconscious.  
  
      What he saw rocked him harder than the blast. Ianto was floating in the middle of his silver cage, eyes closed, a half-smile on his lips, much as he looked when he was having a good dream. The silver rods had moved closer to his body, creating a halo effect. They glowed blue-white, the light flaring and coruscating, filling the area with millions of sparks. After a moment Jack realized the light had patterns in it, patterns he could follow only if he looked at the rods out of the corner of his eye. And there was something familiar in those patterns... bells being played... what had that church been called... Saint Augustine, that was it. He remembered all the Sundays Ianto had dragged him out of bed in the early morning hours to drive out to Rumney to listen to the bells ring their treble bobs, or whatever the hell the patterns were called. He had learned to love it, mostly because the second part of the morning usually included breakfast and lovemaking – not necessarily in that order.   
  
      _Feedback in the system_ , Ianto had said. Now Jack understood he had meant it literally. Ianto was gathering everything the 456 was throwing at him and sending it back along the channels it used to control his slave bodies, transformed into sound. Thousands upon thousands of sound waves, pure sound, the sound of Welsh church bells ringing the Christmas changes. That had been, hands down, Ianto's favorite sound, the ear-shattering, brain-blasting sound of the Christmas bells.   
  
      Sound could kill, Jack knew.  
  
      It seemed to go on and on for hours. The roar became tinged with fear as one by one the slave bodies collapsed under the strain. As the channels closed, the 456 felt something it had not felt for millions of years: hunger. The fear turned to panic as whole worlds disappeared from its consciousness. The deck shivered as the Tech used cat's cradles to stop the suddenly unmanned 456 ships from crashing into the station. The rods around Ianto were vibrating so hard that Jack could actually see the sounds as streaks of light. This must be what synesthesia's like, he thought dizzily. Besides him, Tosh had clamped her hands over her ears and curled into a tight ball. He realized that she must be hearing it all through the _Toshiko_ 's sensors; Jack couldn't even imagine what that was like.  
  
      “The stars are screaming,” she whispered to him through bloodless lips, answering the question he hadn't asked. “All over, everywhere.”  
  
      Jack wrapped her in his coat and held on. Blood trickled from his nose and mouth; one more decibel, he thought, and his ear-drums would burst. But they didn't. Instead, he heard the roar die down to the horrible gurgling of someone drowning as his lungs filled with blood. The bells soared triumphantly, a million Christmases all come at once.  
  
      And then, suddenly, as if someone had thrown a switch, there was silence.  
  
      Jack untangled himself from Tosh and levered himself upwards. Ianto was standing in the middle of the collapsed web. He was deathly pale and Jack could see the tremors running through his body. Jack ran to him and pulled him into a tight hug. He could have wept with relief as he felt Ianto's arms wrap around his waist.  
  
      “We did it.”  
  
      “No,” Jack pressed his lips against Ianto's temple. “You did it. Thank you.”  
  
      Ianto nuzzled Jack's jaw. “So formal, my Captain. I...”  
  
      Jack heard the sound of a plasma rifle, and felt Ianto's body jerk and then slump forward. He cradled his lover's body in his arms and lowered them both to the floor, memories of Ianto's first death colliding with the litany of no.... no.... no...no....that ran endlessly through his mind. There were more shots behind him, and a woman screamed, but he paid no attention. Tears ran down his face; he wanted to scream but he didn't seem to have any air left in his lungs.  
  
      “You're raining on me.”  
  
      The whisper made him jerk. “Ianto?”  
  
      “You need to move away, Jack.”  
  
      Disbelieving, in agony over the rejection, he tightened his grip. “I tried, Ianto. I did my best...”  
  
      Ianto ran a hand up Jack's arm to cradle the side of his face. “I'm not blaming you, cariad. But you need to...”  
  
      “No!” Jack interrupted him. “I'm not going anywhere.”  
  
      Ianto chuckled. “Only you, Jack. On your own head be it.”  
  
      His body arched and spasmed. Jack clung to him, desperately trying to minimize the damage Ianto's body was suffering. He twisted around until he was seated on the deck with Ianto held against his chest. Smiling into his lover's eyes, he lowered his head.  
  
      “Jack, don't...”  
  
      “This time it's live or die together, Ianto.”  
  
      He pressed his open mouth on Ianto's and funneled Vortex energy into him. He fed Ianto as he had once fed Abbadon, pouring all of himself into the battle against death. Then, astonishingly, he felt another energy rising to meet his, something he recognized, something his own energy _remembered_. He pulled back. Ianto's body was glowing, and his outlines were blurring as if he couldn't hold his own shape. The shock made him rear back.  
  
      “Too late, Jack. You said it. Together.”  
  
      The blast caught him full on. He hung on, letting his body ride the waves, absorbing energy and returning it in a way his body found comfortably familiar. A laugh exploded out of him, and he heard Ianto's answering chuckle. The final explosion left them sprawled on the deck, still laughing.   
  
      Jack kissed Ianto lightly as he pulled both of them up. He examined Ianto's face. It was the same, yet subtly different, more angular and sharp. His deep blue eyes were now a stormy grey-blue, and his hairline made a slight widow's peak over a narrower forehead. But it was Ianto's ears that made him chuckle. They stood slightly out from his head, with longer, heavier lobes. He stroked them gently.  
    
      “Care to share?”  
  
      He looked up to find Tosh, Ai-Shi, Marcus, Leah, and a number of servos staring down at them.  
  
      “We're alive and the 456 are gone.” He shrugged. “I don't know much else.”  
  
      Ianto grinned. “It seems the Ylnagii had a backup plan.”  
  
      “Ianto, you regenerated!” Tosh burst out. “I have records of some of  the Doctor's regenerations in my files, and it was almost identical. And you look a little like...”  
  
      “Like who?”   
  
      “Like Jack's first doctor!”  
  
      Ianto clapped his hands to his ears. “Shite.”  
  
      Jack laughed. “They're rather cute on you, love.” He gave himself a once-over. “I feel a little odd myself.”  
  
      “Well,” Ianto said thoughtfully, “You wouldn't move away when I asked you. You must have been caught in the blowback.”  
  
      Marcus looked from one to the other. “But neither one of you is a Time Lord.”  
  
      “There's that.” Ianto seemed to examine his own memories for a moment. “I don't have any information on this. The regeneration was a last resort, but I don't know how they managed it.”  
  
      Surprisingly, it was Ai-Shi who answered. “The Doctor gave them the technology.”  
  
      Jack stared at her. He and the Doctor had avoided each other after the events of the early twenty-first century. Even after millennia had passed their meetings had been, at best, strained. He had made it his business not to cross the Time Lord's path, and the Doctor had seemed content to have it stay that way. The Doctor using Gallifreyan technology to make sure Ianto survived his battle with the 456 was the most outlandish idea Jack had encountered in a life overfilled with outlandish ideas.  
  
      “Ll'nau will be here in three standard hours,” Ai-Shi said, sliding her exquisite metal arms around Jack and Ianto, “and these things are better discussed over tea. Come on. You two need a bath and a nap.”  
  
      As they passed through the Zocalo Jack noticed a group of miners and servos surrounding some men wearing the black leather uniforms of the Espinosa's personal guard. Arabella was standing among them, one hand wrapped in bandages held to her chest. She glared at them. Jack let his eyes slide past her, knowing his disinterest was the worst blow he could deal her.   
  
      “She was the one who shot Ianto,” Marcus said. “Tosh blew the gun out of her hand.”  
  
      “Remind me to give Tosh a raise.”   
  
      Jack leant back until he could see Ianto. His Angel was in deep conversation with Tosh and Leah. The scene was familiar, but this time the memories were sweet. He had a future now, not just a never-ending life. Briefly, he wondered what the regeneration energy had done to him. He grinned. He couldn't wait to find out.


	21. Epilogue

      The stream chortled its way between banks strewn with Welsh poppies. Peach and pear trees hung heavy with ripening fruit. The air carried the scent of rain and a whiff of the city beyond the hills. In the distance, snow-capped mountains stood sentinel over the countryside.  
  
      Jack had to admit the _Toshiko's_ cloister was spectacular.  
  
      “She says it's a real place, a few miles from Cardiff.” Ianto said drowsily. “The place I remember doesn't look quite like this. Someday I'd like to visit.”  
  
      “It has been improved a bit. Tosh is a closet romantic.” Jack hesitated. “We could go now, if you want.”  
  
      “Let's give ourselves more time.” Ianto rolled over to tuck his head in the crook of Jack's neck. “Let's give this Ianto and this Jack a chance to know each other better.”  
  
      Jack kissed his temple. “Wise angel.”  
   
      They were sprawled on a plaid blanket, the remains of their meal neatly packed away in the traditional picnic basket. It had been Tosh's idea.  
  
      “You've spent two weeks dealing with this mess,” she had snapped waspishly at Jack after he had nearly lost his footing and sent himself tumbling down a flight of stairs. “You're asleep on your feet. Take time off. Now.”  
  
      Ai-Shi and Leah had loudly and firmly supported her plan, until Jack had been reduced to muttering about _a monstrous regiment of women_. Nevertheless, he had allowed himself to be led to the cloister by an amused Ianto, stripped down to his drawstring trousers, and fed delicacies prepared by Ai-Shi's own cook. After a few hours of wonderfully dreamless sleep, he had woken up to find Ianto stroking his feet. The erotic touches had led to a prolonged bout of lovemaking, more sleep, and another meal.  
  
      “I wonder what he'll do now,” he mused.  
  
      “Who?”  
  
      “Li Chan. Ai-Shi doesn't really need a cook anymore.”  
  
      “Of course she does. She's the Senior Shareholder for the new Corporation. That means she'll have dignitaries to entertain on a regular basis.”  
  
      “I suppose you're right.”  
  
      He started to sit up, then stopped as he felt the hard object in his pocket. He pulled it out and stared at it. It looked like a miniature star system, with tiny diamond planets orbiting a topaz sun on hair-thin titanium orbits. He chuckled. Only the Doctor would disguise a molecular memory packet in a priceless antique toy.  
  
      “You haven't looked at it yet.”  
  
      “I've been sort of busy.” He heard the defensiveness in his own voice and sighed. “Will you stay with me?”  
  
      Ianto made himself comfortable with his back against a pear tree and pulled Jack against him. Jack leant back until his back was pressed into Ianto's chest. He took a deep breath and tossed the toy up in the air. The topaz flashed and a holographic image appeared.  
  
      A man wearing jeans, a jumper, and riding boots stood by a window in a book-lined room. He was tall and slim, his salt-and-pepper hair pulled back into a ponytail to show off high cheekbones and a widow's peak. Jack could see traces of every Doctor he had ever met in that face, but most of all it was as if he were seeing an Ianto many, many centuries old. He heard Ianto's sharp exhale and felt him entwine their fingers together into a tight, comforting clasp.

_Hello, Jack. And I hope, Ianto._

_If you're both seeing this, Ll'nau and I have succeeded. It's a long shot, Jack, the longest in my long life, but I didn't want to end my life mired in regret. I've made my peace with all my mistakes. All but one. I can still hear my voice saying it. You're wrong, Jack, I said, and I could see how much I'd hurt you. I let you die nearly every day for a year in the worst ways possible, and wept over your killer. And then I let you face the 456 alone, and lose your lover and your grandson, and all I did to make up for it was to throw poor little Alonso at your head, like giving a toddler a new toy to replace the one he lost._

_That's why I avoided you. I didn't want to be reminded of my cruelty, because I would have to face how deeply ashamed I was. I knew you were capable of deep love but I chose to lie to myself because I desperately wanted to believe what I felt for you was a passing infatuation. But there comes a time in every Time Lord's life when he knows he must stop running and account for his life. And there you were, looking back at me, with all that pain in your eyes._

_So I decided to destroy your greatest enemy and give you back at least a little of what you had lost._

_I spent years studying the 456, and that led me to the Ylnagii and their soul-snatching program. I contacted Ll'nau – you figured out his secret, didn't you? Poor guy has spent his life making up for his grandfather's idiocy – and he got me access to Ianto's genetic material. The Ylnagii's gene manipulation techniques are excellent but not exactly what I wanted. I added a bit of TARDIS block-transfer mathematics, and some of my own DNA, and topped it with a bit of genetic chicanery developed by my great-grandfather to make sure his human wife could conceive. You didn't know that, did you, Jack? My great-grandmother was human. A Welsh girl, in fact. It was the trace of human DNA in mine that made the manipulation easier._

_The day I got a viable blastocyst I got drunk. Which, by the way, is a foul, disgusting habit. My head didn't stop ringing for three days._

_Because of the changes I made, Ianto shares some of my nature. He will be able to regenerate, but I have no idea how often, so be careful with it, you two. Of course, if I know you, Jack, you will have made a cockup of all my plans. But still. Be careful._

_And now, I have a favor to ask._

_Time Lords made a mistake, Jack. We destroyed ourselves in our pride, our belief we were the only ones fit to protect the Universe. That error twisted the Universe in some subtle but dangerous ways. There's a chance to fix it but it needs someone like you to do it._

_The last thing I did before coming here was to go back in time, Reapers be damned, and steal the High Council genetic banks. I hid them in the TARDIS and she hid herself in the safest place we could think of. She's waiting for you there._

_Help my people be born again, Jack. Make sure they grow up together with your own, not in proud isolation. Teach them to laugh joyously and love deeply. Teach them to steal starships for the fun of it._

_Good bye, Ianto. Love him for me, will you?_

_Good bye, Jack. I love you, always._

     The hologram faded away. Ianto brushed the tears from Jack's cheeks.

     “How typical of him.” He threaded his hands through Jack's hair and pulled him in for a deep kiss, then pulled away, a distracted look in his eyes. “The safest place they could think of?”

     Jack laughed shakily. “How typical of you both. Where do you think? Come on, Ianto. You're going to get your wish sooner than you thought. We're going to Cardiff!”


End file.
